Breast cancer deaths are down, says the local chapter of the American Cancer Society

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The American Cancer Society estimates more than 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and more than 40,000 deaths from breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the U.S. in 2013.

However, American Cancer Society Winneshiek County Relay For Life Organizer Sarah Foster says progress is being made.  She notes that in the last 20 years or so, death rates from breast cancer have dropped by 33 percent.  Foster says "that translates to 184,000 lives saved that would've otherwise been lost to breast cancer."