So How Can I Support Breast Cancer Awareness/Action? (by Judy)

I’m glad you asked.

As we know by now, there is way too much Pinkwashing out there. There are companies that manufacture pink ribbon products and give none or little of their profits to a breast cancer organization, and even worse, there are companies that get on the pink ribbon bandwagon that actually manufacture items with ingredients that are known to be carcinogenic. Check out the information on Think Before You Pink: it’s invaluable.

What we want to do, what Think Before You Pink, a project of Breast Cancer Action, wants to do is move the message from Awareness to Action. Action that will help save lives, action that will actually do some good and not harm breast cancer survivors, action that will have money go towards organizations that do good work in the fight against breast cancer. As Think Before You Pink states:

Think Before You Pink® always has been, and always will be, a grassroots campaign driven by individuals like you.

So this October we need your help in changing the conversation about breast cancer.

Enough pinkwashing. Enough awareness. We need ACTION to end the breast cancer epidemic.

Will you ask your friends to join you in taking action by Thinking Before They Pink this October?

You can financially support grassroots organizations such as Think Before You Pink or Breast Cancer Action which act as watchdogs for the pinking of breast cancer/National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They’ll tell you which products to avoid and which are actually giving a substantial portion of their profits to a breast cancer organization. These organizations’ emphases are on action, not awareness; on accountability, not pinking without thinking.

You can give money to a lesser-known research organization or hospital like The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation or the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic at MD Anderson Hospital in Texas.

You can give money, items, or services to organizations that help breast cancer (or other cancer) survivors and their families. This list is not exhaustive, but these organizations think about the whole family as being affected by cancer and work to make memories or special times for these families, things that these families might not otherwise receive because of hefty medical bills. The ones that come to mind are: Little Pink Houses of Hope which gives breast cancer survivor and their families beach retreat weeks for no cost except for tranportation to and from the beach; Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation which fulfills wishes of families where one of the parents has late-stage breast cancer; the Jack and Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation which provides, as they say, “WOW experiences” for families with a parent who has a late stage cancer of any kind; and, the Dream Foundation which also provides trips or other experiences for families where one of the parents has late stage cancer of any kind.

I’m sure there are other worthy cancer organizations out there that I’ve omitted. I tried to include those that are lesser known because the large ones receive many donations already. If you know of an organization that I’ve excluded that doesn’t get much press and is committed to helping cancer survivors, please feel free to include it in the comments on this post.

If you want to help someone individually who has cancer, I can’t think of a better list than the one that Breast Cancer Action has created, What to Do When Someone You Know Has Been Diagnosed With Breast Cancer. This one is aimed specifically towards breast cancer survivors, but I think it’s applicable to other cancers as well.

THAT’S how you can best help, in my humble opinion, of course.

Thanks for asking.
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Cross-posted to Just Enjoy Him.

This? Is the Kind of Thing That Drives Me Batty (by Judy)

OK, now that we’re done laughing uproariously from the wordplay on the shirt, let’s just not buy it.

No, really. Let’s not.

According to the blurb on the site:

Our Personalized Breast Cancer Awareness Black T-shirt is a great way to support the fight against Breast Cancer.

My response?

No, no it’s really NOT.

Squeeze a boob, save the ta-tas. NO. Sorry to be a pill with this stuff, but I would gather that many of us who have in fact lost boob(s) or ta-ta(s) don’t find these t-shirts funny, nor do we think they actually help the fight against breast cancer.

I mean, really! Where on that site does it say that they donate any money to a breast cancer research foundation? It doesn’t. So my assumption is that this “fight against breast cancer” takes place on people’s chests which is ineffective at best and offensive to some of us at worst.

As Ginny Mason, Executive Director of an organization that I DO suggest you give your money to, The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, said in a comment to a post of mine on Facebook:

Most “pink stuff” is marketing only….perhaps a little money is donated to bc causes but the company gets the tax write-off then. If you want to make a difference, find a bc organization you think is doing good work, support them personally and get the tax write-off yourself! If you need a pink broom, pink mixer, etc. get some spray paint!!

Good advice, very good advice.

*sigh*, I have a feeling it’s going to be a very long October.
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Cross-posted to Just Enjoy Him.

I Actually Like Pink (by Judy)

I mean, pink is a great color, or a great spectrum of colors, I guess I should say. I look good wearing pink, I’ve been told. It has so many different hues to it. There’s pale or light pink which can signify femininity, softness, gentleness. Then we have bright or darker pink which I suppose signifies cheer, joy, and brightness.

Maybe that’s exactly the problem. Breast cancer isn’t feminine, soft, or gentle. It’s not cheerful, joyful, or bright. Especially for those of us with metastatic breast cancer of any kind, it’s anything but those adjectives. It’s harsh, hurtful, and hard. It can be brutal, dark, and menacing.

Now, that doesn’t mean that we live our lives in a brutal, dark, and menacing way. To the contrary, the women I know with Stage 4 cancer embrace life, living it to the fullest, and think of each and every day as precious. We may deal with our illnesses with a harshness or a kind of ruthlessless, but that’s because we have so very much to live for.

So the fact that Pink signifies breast cancer can be problematic for some of us, particularly, as I said, those of us with Stage 4 breast cancer, with terminal breast cancer, who will probably die of this disease. It’s hard to get excited about pink ribbons, pink clappers, pink pens, pink scissors, pink blenders, and pink you-name-it when we know, barring a miracle or some sudden death from another source, that we will die from this disease.

It’s not pretty. It’s not soft. It’s not either feminine or cheerful. It’s difficult. It’s never-ending. It causes health problems other than “just” the breast cancer if we are going through treatment. And it will most likely kill those of us with Stage 4 breast cancer.

It’s a brutal truth, but it IS the truth.

I like Pink, I really do. I just don’t like how it’s been overused for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I don’t like how it ignores the brutal facts of breast cancer. I don’t like how it ignores that men can get breast cancer. I don’t like how it has become an industry wherein companies make money off the backs of breast cancer survivors.

I like the color, in and of itself.

I just don’t like what it’s become every October.
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Cross-posted to Just Enjoy Him.

It’s Not Even October Yet (by Judy)

and I found these items while shopping today: pink scissors, pink sharpies, and pink binder clips with ribbons on them. I know that October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) is coming up, but really — can’t manufacturers wait until October is officially here before trying to make more money off of it?

*sigh* Here’s the problem, as I said umpteen times in my blog last year: not all of the items for sale under guise of NBCAM actually give money to breast cancer awareness or research programs. Or some will give a small fraction of the money that they get, but not much. In other words, NCBAM has become a huge marketing tool for manufacturers.

As always, Think Before You Pink. Ask yourself some vital questions before you plunk down your hard-earned money on some product just because it’s pink and you think the money will go towards a good cause. A list of questions is actually on the Think Before You Pink website.

Also, if you’re really concerned about breast cancer and want to make a difference, simply donate money to an organization that puts the money towards breast cancer research, like The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This is just one organization that doesn’t Pink up October, but that really does important work that we hope will save lives one day. There are others and I can give recommendations, for organizations that give to breast cancer research or cancer in general, or for organizations that try to make cancer survivors’ lives better.

Remember, it’s not hard to

Think Before You Pink.
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Cross-posted to Just Enjoy Him.

just slightly below par (by laurie)

On the morning of September 7, I had an appointment with my oncologist. I had confirmed that we would do it over the phone and kept my phone handy to await is his call.

 At 11:00, the nurse who works with Dr. G. called to say that I would be hearing him before the end of the afternoon, thus giving me several hours to work myself into a state of high anxiety. I’d had an echocardiogram and two CT scans on August 29 and I knew that my doc would have the results.

I had no reason (other than history) to believe that the CTs would reveal anything bad and I’d managed to pretty much forget about the results until the day I was to receive them. On that day, I became a nervous wreck. I jumped every time the phone rang and when the call I’d been waiting for finally came through at around 5pm, I was a mess.

My oncologist apologized for the delay, and, as always when I hear his voice, my annoyance and anxiety dissolved. He told me that both CTs were fine. I have lots of scarring on my liver (from the cancer) and a little scaring on my lungs (from the radiation) but that there was no sign of cancer anywhere.

Excellent news.

Then I asked about the echo, which surprised Dr. G. He didn’t have the results in front of him and had to go look them up. When he did, he sounded a bit taken aback.

My ejection fraction is at 48%. The normal range starts at 55%, so I’m really just below that but it’s enough of a concern to send me to a cardiologist and to cancel next week’s treatment.

My concern is not that there is permanent heart damage (although it’s a bit freaky to think that my poor heart is a bit over-stressed) because Herceptin damage is usually reversible. My fear is the length of time it will take my heart to bounce back and what my treatment options are in the interim. And what if the toxicity has built up to a sufficient level that long term treatment with Herceptin is no longer viable?

This drug has been my magic potion, the one I credit with my remission and the fact that I’m here today. I’m not ready to think about giving it up.

And I don’t have to. Not yet. Going to try and save all my questions for the cardiologist and, in the interim, carry on with my happy, busy life.

Update:  I have an appointment with a cardio-oncologist on October 3rd.

Cross posted from Not Just About Cancer.