Tired of Breast Cancer Awareness Month
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As everyone knows, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My mother had breast cancer when she was in her late 70’s but they caught it very early and after months of treatments the cancer was eliminated. We are all thankful that she has been cancer free for years now. So you would think that I would have a greater appreciation for all of the hoopla this month regarding breast cancer. But to be honest I am more than a bit tired of it all.
In addition to my mother, I have known half a dozen or more women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. All of them caught it early and are doing fine now. So on one hand I agree with the push for early diagnosis. But this is something that every woman knows. And if she doesn’t her doctor or OBGYN will be after her to get a mammogram. By now everyone knows about breast cancer, so do we really need an entire month devoted to this one disease?
Actually this is beginning to remind me of Jerry Lewis’s annual telethon to raise
money for Muscular Dystrophy. Jerry Lewis has been holding a telethon for 44 years, that’s right ever since 1965 he has been on TV in September begging for money. And each year he raises millions and millions of dollars, in fact he received a record $65 million last year alone. Good heavens. What do they do with all those millions? You would think by now that they would have found a cure what with all those donations each year.
Jerry Lewis and MDA have less than 24 hours to beg for money. Breast cancer has been given an entire month. A little online research showed me that Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) has been going on for 25 years now! Again, like MDA, where has all the money collected from those walks and donations for the past 25 years gone? Yet unlike MDA, they do know how to cure breast cancer if caught in time, so why do they still need all these millions? Not surprisingly, on the website for BCAM I couldn’t find any mention of how much money has been raised in the past Octobers. But with all the corporate sponsorships I am sure it is probably more than what Jerry raises for “his kids”.
I realize that Muscular Dystrophy and breast cancer are terrible diseases. But there are other diseases out there which are overshadowed by these bigger, much publicized diseases. It is wonderful that more and more women are surviving breast cancer but if an infant is diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis the diagnosis is death. Maybe not immediately but a parent of a CF infant knows that their child will lead 
a difficult life full of pills, breathing treatments, hospitalizations, diabetes, lung transplants and operations and even then if the baby is lucky she or he will die in their mid thirties, although many still die in their teens and twenties.
As previously mentioned, my 81 year old mother had breast cancer a few years ago. Of course I am thrilled that she beat it and has remained cancer free. However, my 8 year old niece has Cystic Fibrosis. Although she is remaining healthy due to massive doses of pills, breathing treatments and painful chest palpitations we know that she will die in her mid thirties or younger for there is no cure. And yet CF can raise only a fraction of the money that goes to breast cancer or MD.
I do have empathy for children and women with MD or breast cancer. Yet these diseases attract
so much attention that it results in massive corporate sponsorships and donations from the population which then makes it difficult for other diseases to obtain donations. Although CF has no cure and results in death it is still nearly impossible to raise awareness and thus money to find a cure because of these other “popular” diseases.
During October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, if you are planning to donate money to breast cancer, why not take a portion of your donation to help out the children with CF. Therefore, if you planned to give $100 to the breast cancer foundation, could you please give $20 to CF and $80 to breast cancer instead? This way you will help both and possibly give the children with Cystic Fibrosis a chance to live a long and healthy life.
To make a donation to Cystic Fibrosis go to the following website: www.cff.org/lwc/auntpatti
Thank you.
Comment by diep flap on 23 October 2009:
I couldn’t disagree more with your post. I recently got diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. It was a gut wrenching choice no-one should have to make. I hope and pray every day that more people step up to the plate and do their part to help make a world for our daughters to live free of this disease. I’m at least encouraged to see that no one else shares your sentiments about breast cancer research.
Comment by matt on 23 October 2009:
i have to agree with you, while breast cancer is horrible it is not the only disease on earth nor is it the only form of cancer in existence. more people die of heart disease and lung cancer then breast cancer and plenty of people die from already cured diseases. sadly, conditions that don’t hold public appeal don’t get their own silly awareness campaigns ran by corporations. although CF needs a awareness campaign because if people truly knew what it was like to be condemned from birth they might actually make the choice to fund other diseases. breast cancer makes millions towards awareness, not research. even then the money sent to research has proven ineffectual and a overall cure for all cancer is more desirable than researching breast cancer to the last detail.
diep flap, most of the spent for awareness does not go to research, it instead pays for “awareness” campaigns. awareness doesn’t cure anything and any woman with half a brain knows what breast cancer is. i can’t imagine how much it sucks to have cancer but living in a self centered world and creating a giant breast cancer support group doesn’t help a lot of people in the long run and i am sure people dying of other diseases don’t feel too good about that either. its good to feel sympathy for your fellow person but don’t let that alienate any empathy you could have for others in need that aren’t going through exactly what you went through.
giving to a charity that actually helps people like feeding the starving and currently curable sick is where my money goes to anyways. it has a more immediate impact than money that might produce a step towards a cure 20 years from now when all the people that money could have helped now are long dead.
Comment by Jonathon Woods on 27 October 2009:
Thank you for bringing these health concerns to our attention. I think the key to the prevention, treatment and cure of many diseases can be found in the study of the dietary habits of various indiginous tribes around the world who are healthy and have not been exposed to cases of cancer etc…
In simple terms, most all diseases are related to specific dietary deficiencies of one kind or another.
There has been quite of bit of lab research showing that cancer is the result of a lack of a key trace element, hydrogen cyanide, a chemical that is found in highest concentrations in apricot seeds, bitter almonds, apple seeds etc….
Comment by Jonathon Woods on 29 October 2009:
And here is some more life affirming information for any and all who might be skeptical of traditional methods for treating diseases, through the cutting, slashing, poisoning, and burning of the human form, methods that are advocated by profit seeking industries through their politics which have demonstrated to us time and time again that their primary concern is PROFIT over the health of people…. research this link…. http://www.gerson.org/
Comment by slowsmile on 1 November 2009:
I would have to side with Jonathan here. And I would push it even further. It is not just diet which is the cause. It’s the air we breath and the dirt we walk on which is also the cause. In Egypt, the proportion of heart disease within the population is only 10% what it is in the modern world. This is due to the fact that the soil in Egypt is good soil, high in mineraals and goodness, uncorrupted and unleached by modern pesticides and farming methods respectively.
In relation to the cut, poison and burn tactics of the cancer industry, recently I read that there was a discreet poll taken at John Hopkins Hospital in Chicago(I think). The question asked was “If you had cancer, would you take the current options of surgery, radiotherapy and chemo-therapy?”. This question was asked to all the hospital staff including doctors, nurses and specialists(including oncologists). 75% of all those questioned said no, they would not take modern cancer therapy. Very surprising…
As for the drugs industry, it is certainly hard to trust a business sector like this which is undoubtedly so driven by shareholder profit rather than by the needs of humanity. I wrote a heavily evidenced article criticizing the so-called modern Germ Theory of Medicine. Here is the link:
http://slowsmile.hypocrisy.com/2008/09/16/part-2-big-pharma-the-success-of-the-germ-theory/
Comment by PCDiem on 4 December 2009:
At this point, I find pink marketing offensive and sexist. I’ve started sending this reply to any company that sends me a Pink Friday Sale email:
I’m waiting for you people to wake up and start supporting more worthy causes.
Maybe you think lung cancer isn’t worthy because it could be prevented if people would not smoke. Did you know that almost 25% of lung cancer deaths are non-smokers?
Did you know that 70% of breast cancer deaths could have been prevented if only women would stop having abortions, start breast feeding and make other simple lifestyle changes?
Lung cancer kills 5 times as many people in the US as breast cancer yet receives only $1 for every $19 in breast cancer research funds.
What about prostate cancer, which kills almost as many Americans as breast cancer? I can only assume you think prostate cancer isn’t a worthy cause because it affects disposable men instead of precious women.
I believe this Pink Friday deal is pure marketing and you really have no interest in helping worthy causes. I and my company will not be supporting you with our purchases this weekend and probably not any other time throughout the coming year.
Comment by Jenni on 10 January 2010:
I couldn’t agree with this more. There are so many causes that are worth while. This whole Pink thing has become a fad. More women die from heart disease every year than breast cancer. It saddens me that we choose to only focus on this one disease.