The fall edition of ‘pink’ magazine will hit newsstands Wednesday.

My thanks to the readers who have called periodically since July, wondering when the next issue would arrive and the advertisers who continue to support the publication.

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the fall edition of ‘pink’ will recognize those who have battled breast cancer locally.

I once heard that 90-plus percent of the world’s population has been affected by the disease – either in having been diagnosed themselves or having a friend or loved one who has struggled with it.

Considering that estimates place more than 6 billion people on the planet, that’s a staggering statistic.

I offer a sincere thank you to the women who chose to let us tell their stories in black and white…and pink.

Breast cancer is an extremely personal disease, as is its struggle, but the magazine doesn’t dwell on the disease. It’s not all about doom and gloom. It’s about perseverance. It’s about the fight. It’s about winning.

It is our hope that women across the county will find inspiration, and maybe some hope, in these ladies’ stories of survival.

According to recent data, odds are at least one woman who picks up ‘pink’ next week and reads these women’s stories will be diagnosed with breast cancer over the next 12 months.

Our intent on bringing you these women’s stories of struggle and survival is to show that woman who gets that bad news is that she is not alone. Survivors are all around us. They battle the disease in many different ways, but they all have the same goal: Winning.

The diagnosis of cancer – breast or otherwise – isn’t the death sentence that it once was. Caught early enough, it’s beatable.

Thanks to advancements in treatment, even those who find out late in the disease’s development are still given pretty good odds on beating it.

I’m one of the 6 billion-plus people whose lives has been touched by breast cancer.

My mother, who was diagnosed at a relatively young age when compared to “the norm”, is a survivor of nearly 10 years.

She’s no different than the ladies featured in ‘pink’ or the countless other ladies across the county, the state, the nation or the world.

They all fight their fight their own way. They all tell their story their own way. But their fights and their stories are all fairly similar.

They each fight to win and they tell their stories to comfort, educate and inspire those who need it most – the next wave of potential breast cancer survivors.