Feature photo by leah.jones. Above photo by zappowbang
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Find out how you can get involved!
I know many too many women with breast cancer.
A great aunt, two close friends and quite a few other family members. My mother does breast cancer research and is herself a survivor who has been in remission for seven years. She works in the same lab where her own biopsy was diagnosed. Statistics tell me there is a 1 in 8 chance that I may one day be fighting as well.
So what can I — and all of you — do now, to prevent, educate and support in the fight?
Take care of yourself first.
Learn what you can do to educate yourself, prevent and protect yourself from breast cancer. This includes, among other things, monthly self exams and yearly mammograms. If you find something suspicious, talk to a doctor immediately.
Shave something for solidarity.
Your head, your beard or whatever other body part makes sense.
This year at Burning Man, my good friend Stephanie and husband, Noah both sheared their locks to support our friend Gail. It was without a doubt the most meaningful event of the entire week.
Another friend of ours is shaving his beard for the first time this decade to be part of Movember, a yearly mustache growing charity event held in November each year to raise funds and awareness for men’s health, because, remember, not only women get breast cancer.
Open yourself to listen and really hear what a friend with cancer has to say. Finally, I call on all of you to share your own experiences and resources by leaving a comment below.
Create Community
Lotsa Helping Hands allows you to develop a “free-of-charge, private, web-based community to organize family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues for someone currently undergoing treatment.”
There you can develop a framework to provide meals, rides to and from the hospital and whatever else might be needed.
Create Your Own Fundraising and Awareness Event
Passionately Pink, part of Susan G Komen for the Cure, gives you all the resources and materials you need to set mobilize friends, family and even strangers to raise money and work toward a cure. You can join an already existing team or run an event of your own.
Listen and Share
Too often, we believe those with cancer don’t want to talk about it. In truth, it’s more likely our own discomfort causes us not to ask questions. Instead, open yourself to listen and really hear what a friend with cancer has to say.
Finally, I call on all of you to share your own experiences and resources by leaving a comment below.
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6 Comments... join the discussion!
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Lola,
I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, and thank you for sharing her blogs. Her voice is so clear and wonderful and alive.
I’ve spoken with other survivors who prefer not to talk about their “situation,” as she calls it. I can imagine that many people find inspiration, hope and humor in her writing.
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Leigh, thank you for writing about this. I lost my mother (at age 41) and grandmother (at age 57, whom I had never met) to this disease so this issue is near and dear to my heart. Thank you for encouraging people to make a difference even if it is something they perceive to be as small. When my mother passed away 13 years ago we established a scholarship in her name at the local community college that my entire town rallied behind. It may seem small, but it has helped many kids (including myself) go to college. The only way to win against breast cancer is to face it and fight it, something I plan on doing for the rest of my life.
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School scholarships don’t sound small at all. It sounds huge.
Still, it’s often the small things that matter most. Someone visiting you for an hour. Sending a meal. Just keeping in touch. They’re all unbelievably important.
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In 6 months I will be a ten year survivor of breast cancer. During those years I have tried to come up with a unique way to make a difference in the lives of those in treatment or those who have survived breast cancer. I have voluntered with the American Cancer Society and as a massage therapist offered oncology massages to those needing this service. Most recently I have decided to provide an educational seminar – “Healthy Breast Care – Knowing What’s On Your Chest” for both men and women, as you know men can get breast cancer also. This seminar will provide information on the importance of movement of the breast and surrounding tissue, breast diseases and disorders, the impact of bras on the breast and of course, healing from breast cancer. My thought is that we must beome proactive in the fight against breast cancer. If we have good information prior to being faced with a diagnosis of breast cancer we can possibly make a better decision regarding our care. And if through our proactive apporach we are not diagnosed then the information we have obtained can be utilized to help someone else. There is an enormous amount of information available regarding how to reduce the risk of breast cancer, how exercise, massage, diet and bras affects one’s probability of being one in eight to face this disease. I am hoping that this venture will make the difference in the lives of many.
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Yvonne,
How wonderful to be 10 yrs past treatment and that you’ve been so proactive in helping others learn how to prevent, treat and heal from breast cancer.
It’s well needed. I know, even my mom, who researches to find cures, needed this sort of resources when she was diagnosed. It’s a very different world when you’re looking through the microscope than when you’re actually facing day-to-day treatment.
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