If you and seven women friends of yours get together for a ladies night on the town, or a weekend getaway, statistics say, one person in the group will fall or has fallen victim to breast cancer at some point in their lifetime.

One out of eight women will develop Breast Cancer.

Genetically speaking, there is little you can do to prevent it. Medically speaking, there are a lot of things you can do to beat it.

Be knowledgeable, be aware and talk about it - the faster you detect it, the better your chance of limiting its impact.

As the only professional women's sports league in America, Breast Health Awareness means a great deal to the WNBA and its players.

"I think the WNBA has done a really great job of promoting awareness for it," Sacramento Monarchs guard Ticha Penicheiro said. "It’s great to have awareness out there for women of all ages because we are all susceptible to that kind of disease. Of course everybody knows that we had a former teammate, Edna Campbell, that was diagnosed with it. Being close friends with her really hit me. It’s something that anybody can get – even men. It’s something that everybody has to be aware of. I think the WNBA, through us, has really done a great job promoting these things so that people are aware of it."

As the most common form of non-skin-related cancer, breast cancer has a lot of famous faces - Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge and Suzanne Somers. While these names are synonymous with pop culture, one wouldn't have to go any further than former Monarch guard, Edna Campbell, to find a courageous survivor of this deadly disease in the WNBA. With tremendous bravery, sound doctors and incredible support from her teammates and the WNBA community, Edna overcame the disease and all the hardships that came with it.

"I was trying to encourage her," Penicheiro continued. "But she was very strong and handled it well. I barely saw her being down or crying about the situation. I just tried to stay strong for her and give her as much encouragement as possible. I tried to make her smile as much as I could, but she handled it really well. I don’t know anybody who could go through something like that – totally unexpected – and handle it the way she did."

The proximity to which Edna's fight reached Ticha has changed her perspective on life forever more.

"Not taking things for granted," Ticha said, of what she learned through her friend and former teammate's bout with breast cancer. "Not taking life for granted. Not taking any day, any hour, any minute for granted. After that experience, I think I became closer to my family and my friends because you never know. You can’t map out things like that. When it happened to her, it made me realize it could happen to any of us. We’re not invincible. It was also a wake-up call because I was, and still am, so close to her. The fact that I experienced someone with cancer first-hand woke me up to continue to have fun every day."

Edna is now a five-year survivor, and with the support of those like Ticha, she is able to spread the word of awareness. While Campbell is no longer on the Monarchs, the current group of players in Sacramento has also been affected by the deadly disease.

"I was only 15," Head Coach Jenny Boucek said, when reflecting on hearing that her mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer. "But it’s a reality to have life or death in your own family. There are things that you take for granted. My mom was never sick and then all of a sudden, she could have died. It does change your life view."

Coach Boucek's mother is a survivor. Scholanda Robinson's grandmother was a survivor. Yolanda Griffith's grandmother was, too, as was Kristin Haynie's grandmother. Women across the globe have just as many relatives or friends that have similar stories of valor.

"I can’t speak from their perspective" Scholanda Robinson said. "Just to have a loved one go through cancer was hard. So, I couldn’t imagine going through it personally. It’s scary because it’s something that can be passed on genetically, so it’s something that I have to be aware of. I have to make sure that I keep myself aware and remember to get checked. As well as my mom – she does a good job of staying checked-up. I think that kind of helps. It’s good and bad when you have somebody that’s gone through it. It kind of makes you a little more aware. I think that it’s important that we spread the word to a lot more people because if they don’t have someone who’s been through it – it might not hit as close to home. Then they might feel like, ‘Oh well that’s something that’s never going to happen to me.’ But the understanding has to start somewhere. It’s not like it has to happen in your family. It starts with you. So it’s important for us to put the word out and make everybody aware."

The disease does not single out any particular ethnic background, family history or income. In fact, 70 percent of women who develop breast cancer have no identifiable risk factors.

Breast cancer is a deadly disease, but through programs like the WNBA's Breast Health Awareness Night, more people are being recognized for their courage, more people are gaining an understanding of the disease and most importantly, more people are coming together for the betterment of womankind.

"It’s extremely important," Robinson said of creating awareness. "So many people go through it and need support. They need to know where they can turn, who they can talk to, and what the process is. It’s a really tough experience and people need to have a network where they can understand that they can make it through it. As well as have people to talk to. I’m sure that we’ll have a lot of people in attendance who have survived it and we’ll have people on hand who are going through it. Maybe they can network with people there because I know people who go through it are so willing to help others. They understand what it’s like."

Join us as we celebrate survivors and Breast Health Awareness this Sunday, July 1. Get your tickets now!

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