(NEW YORK) — Since the start of Breast Cancer Awareness initiatives in 1985, over 517,000 lives have been saved from better treatment and proactive screening, according to the American Cancer Society. That began to change in October 1985, when the American Cancer Society partnered with other groups to launch a week-long event devoted to raising awareness about breast cancer. The campaign quickly gained momentum as more organizations joined in, and by 1990 President George H. W. Bush issued a proclamation officially designating October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “There have been great strides in breast cancer treatments from less extensive breast surgery to more targeted radiation, and the explosion of new drugs that are more specific for the different subtypes of breast cancer.” Dr. Katherine Crew, breast medical oncologist and director of the clinical breast cancer prevention program at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, told ABC News. While black women were more likely to die from any kind of breast cancer, for certain types of breast cancer black women had up to a 50% higher risk of dying than their white counterparts.