October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.It’s estimated that by the end of this year, approximately 30% of new cancer diagnoses for women will be for breast cancer. One in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes. But there are also nearly 4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States, which means breast cancer can be treated and managed if it’s caught early. Dr. Lori Frederick with Oklahoma University's Health Breast Health Network said women should get yearly mammograms starting at age 40, regardless of family history."We know that breast cancer is most commonly not related to your family history, so that’s kind of a misconception out there," she said.She recommended 3D mammograms whenever possible. "It helps us identify cancer that may be hidden – with the 3D imaging," she said. Men can also get breast cancer, although it is much rarer. The National Breast Cancer Foundation estimates about 2,700 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Although we are still in a pandemic, it’s important not to neglect yearly screenings. Frederick said she is seeing things pick back up."I think the word got out that you need to come in and get this done," she said. It could save your life.

Hearing the word "cancer" is scary for anyone, especially when you're just 9 years old. Sammy Strawn can call himself a survivor, and one heck of a baseball player too.You don't have to be around Sammy for long to know he's anything but quiet on the field."My dad taught me when I was like maybe 3 or 4, so baseball's life to me," Sammy said. But last October, he wasn't feeling like his normal self. "We first found out after he had a prolonged headache at school and had to come home from school," his dad Joe said.That long headache turned out to be caused by a brain tumor. "It was a pilocytic astrocytoma," Joe said. But baseball stayed on Sammy's mind. So when his parents told him what was going on, Joe said Sammy had just two questions: "First one: 'Am I going to live?' The second one: 'Am I going to play baseball again?'" Joe and his wife Sarah Wemhoff-Strawn say they caught the tumor early on. "(It was) not genetic, it was just a formulation of bad cells," Sarah said. Between October and November, Sammy had two surgeries within weeks of each other. And just three days later, he was back to playing catch again."I didn't want to lie to him and say 'you will play baseball again,'" Joe said. "That was never a guarantee," Sarah chimed in. Joe said he "was hoping by April he would be playing baseball and even that, I wasn't sure it was going to happen."Sammy's impact inspired his parents so much that they started Sammy Strong, a foundation aiming to provide resources for families and everyone else involved in the life of a child facing what Sammy did. Meanwhile, Sammy hasn't missed a single game or practice since his surgery.He's grateful for his teammates."It's like they didn't even notice that I had cancer, and I was just a normal kid on the baseball team," Sammy said."I think grateful is the biggest understatement in the world," Sarah said.Joe and Sarah say it's unlikely that the tumor will come back. But Sammy gets a check-up every three months to make sure everything is alright. For more about the Sammy Strong foundation, go here.

On April 9, 19-year-old Lauren Rhodes received her dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.She posed for a picture, grinning widely and proudly showing off the band-aid on her arm."I was like, 'One and done,'" she said.The Gretna, Nebraska, teenager went home that night and felt all the common, mild post-vaccine side effects."Fatigue and exhaustion," said Rhodes. "And then it just kind of got worse and worse."She said she felt sick for weeks and the whole time, she and her family thought it was from the vaccine."We just figured this is a reaction," said Liz Rhodes, Lauren's mother.Then other symptoms arose. Her legs buckled and her face drooped. She started showing symptoms that didn't match up with other peoples' vaccine reactions."If you asked me to squeeze your hand, I couldn't even squeeze it. Pick up my phone, I couldn't do it," said Rhodes.She visited Dr. Carmella Imig at the CHI Health Gretna Clinic. Imig told the family to go to the hospital, where an MRI highlighted a tumor pressing on Rhodes' spinal cord."They said, 'This can't wait. We have to get this out now,'" Rhodes said.On May 7, Rhodes was admitted to the hospital for surgery." was in the part of the cervical spine where if something would not have been done, she could have lost all function of her arms and legs," Imig said.Rhodes spent the next two months undergoing physical, occupational and speech therapy.She just completed therapy and is ready to be a normal college student again."I'm cleared for everything now," said Rhodes. "I can drive, I can bend, sit up, scoot, walk upstairs.""We feel like we got our daughter back," said Rod Rhodes, her father.Imig is thankful Rhodes got her vaccine, showed some symptoms and stopped by her office to get it checked out."It was actually a blessing that she did," Imig said. "Because it led her to the care that she needed."Imig said the symptoms of Rhodes' tumor coincidentally followed her COVID-19 vaccine side effects. She said the two are not related at all.Rhodes doesn't regret getting her shot and she encourages others to get it as well."Do it. I did it for myself, my family, my school. Protection," she said. "Even if it did cause a side effect, it made me aware of and we got it taken care of."