The Illinois Department of Public Health is awarding more than $1 million in Carolyn Adams Ticket for the Cure lottery grants to 37 not-for-profit organizations across Illinois.
Three of the organizations are in southeastern Illinois. Clay County Hospital in Flora will receive $35,000, the Jasper and Wabash County Health Departments will each receive $25,000.
Sales of the instant lottery game help fund the fight against breast cancer. Public health spokesperson Melaney Arnold says some of the money raised will help educate women about breast cancer screenings.
"Early detection is key to surviving breast cancer. If it's found early, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 98-percent. But, when detected in later stages, that survival rate drops to 26-percent. So, it's important that women in all communities know the importance of early detection."
It's estimated that nearly 10 thousand Illinois women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016...and 19-hundred will die.
