Karen Bowlsby Perez Grayson was a dedicated Peace Corps volunteer who served in Malaysia around 1964-65. She considered her Peace Corps service one of the highlights of her life. When she returned to the United States, she earned her teaching credentials and taught history, citizenship, and English as a second language in the Montebello school district in the greater Los Angeles area. Around 2001, she took early medical retirement due to her breast cancer. She passed away in April, 2003.

Sherry Zembower was a past President of the Friends of Malaysia.  She was a Peace Corps volunteer teacher serving in Malaysia from 1969 - 1972, dedicated to making our world a better place.  On her return, she spent her career helping and counseling troubled youths, working in youth centers and detention centers.   She passed away from from breast cancer in January, 2005.

The Ministry of Health of Sabah, Malaysia, has suggested that they would welcome assistance in their campaign to improve education and awareness of breast cancer. We learned that as Malaysia has progressed economically, breast cancer has become a major cause of death among Malaysian women.

The Friends of Malaysia is undertaking this project to raise money for Malaysian programs designed to improve awareness and early detection of breast cancer, in order to save lives. In particular, we are supporting a campaign, run by various non-government organizations, that teach women, primarily in rural areas, on methods of self examination so that breast cancer might be detected at an earlier stage when it can be treated. We have placed equipment with a non-profit group in Sabah that teaches women how to examine their breasts and look for lumps. We have also provided funds to assist two nurses to train to work with womens groups to develop more out reach activities.

We are raising money and dedicating this project in memory of Karen and Sherry, two dedicated Peace Corps volunteers, who passed away recently from breast cancer.

Here are some basic facts about the incidence of breast cancer in Malaysia:

• Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among Malaysian women in 2002. This is true for all races.

• Breast cancer comprised 30.4% of all newly diagnosed cancer cases among Malaysian women in 2002

• A woman in Malaysia has a 1 in 19 chance of getting breast cancer in her lifetime

• Among Chinese Malaysians, the risk is 1 in 14

• Among Indian Malaysians, the risk is 1 in 15

• Among Malays, the risk is 1 in 24

• The Age Standardised Rate (ASR) of female breast cancer in Malaysia is 52.8 per 100,000 people.

• For Chinese Malaysians, the ASR is 70.1 per 100,000

• For Indian Malaysians, the ASR is 61.7 per 100,000

• For Malays, the ASR is 41.9 per 100,000

• The ASR of female breast cancer in Malaysia is higher than that in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, but it is lower than that in Australia and the UK.

• Out of the 4,337 new cases of female breast cancer cases reported to the National Cancer Registry of Malaysia in 2002, 52.3% were for women less than 50 years old.

(Source: The Malaysian National Cancer Registry report for 2002, released on July 4, 2003.)