One of my favorite blogs had a topic recently that really made me think. Cara Ellison’s Pink Rage post made me process my own feelings about the pinking of October. First of all, let me say that I hope that the Susan G. Komen foundation really is close to coming up for a cure for breast cancer. I deeply sympathize with people who are affected by breast cancer personally or by association. I was very surprised to find that spending money on pink things in October doesn’t neccisarily mean that your money will go to fund breast cancer research. Also I find it a little curious that a good number of people assume that the pink products they buy go to fund ALL cancer research. In some cases, it might. The Pampered Chef donates $1 for every pink product you buy in October toward The American Cancer Society. But most likely, when you buy something pink after the first week in October NONE of your money ever makes it to the Komen Foundation because there are caps to corporate donations. I won’t pretend to be an expert on how the money goes… I just know that there are a lot of cancer survivors who are annoyed at the way companies are making huge profits using cancer as a marketing scheme. Does all this pink stuff everywhere make us more aware of breast cancer? Possibly. I mean it makes us aware that we should give money to someone in hope that someone else is really doing something about it. There are probably better ways that our money can actually help people who are suffering with cancer though. The Komen Foundation is about finding the cure (and I hope they do some day) they aren’t about helping families pay for treatments, groceries or childcare. Those are things that immediately affect anyone with cancer. There are organizations who do that. I didn’t really know that before reading Cara’s post and the comments that followed. One comment that was very enlightening came from Mathew Zachary: (Who turns out to be a concert pianist, check out his site.)
“I encourage everyone to read this essay – “What Would Susan Do?” Link: http://imtooyoungforthis.org/media/costofliving/wwsd.pdf
Matthew Zachary
12-Year Young Adult Survivor
Founder, CEO
I’m Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation
http://stupidcancer.org”
Now I can feel better about NOT donating money to my kid’s school for breast cancer research. And look in to organizations with a lot more transparency. Unfortunately there are a lot of different cancers out there, some more deadly than others. If you don’t know to check our breasts regularly by now you have to have been living under a rock. People out there with goiters that are trying to convince themselves its not cancer–get it checked out! I lived with a swollen thyroid for 10 years that turned out to be full of tumors. Just because your Dr. does an initial exam and ultrasound does not mean you are home free for the rest of your life. Stay on top of it! Luckily thyroid cancer is one of the least deadly cancers to get, but its the one I know most about. Most importantly, take care of your body. Do all those things you know you should be doing. Stop eating and drinking and smoking that stuff you shouldn’t. Life is a precious, precious gift.
