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Cancer is bigger than October
Posted on Nov 1st 2007 8:00AM by Jacki DonaldsonFiled Under: Diet & Weight Loss
I am happy for October and the overflow of breast cancer awareness packed into each of the month's 31 days. But I'm always a bit relieved when these days come to an end. It means I can get back to living, free of the bombardment of facts of figures, and cutesy slogans, and of all things pink.
I'm lucky to be surviving breast cancer and not another form of cancer. Breast cancer gets attention, funding, programming, and lots of great press. But it makes me feel selfish, spoiled, like I'm hogging too many of the resources that could be spread around to others doing battle with their own deadly diseases.
Where are the other awareness months? Actually, there are a few -- March is the National Colorectal Awareness Month, September is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness Month, May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month -- but we don't know much about them because people aren't shouting from the rafters about these critical causes, like they are about breast cancer.
I'm lucky to be surviving breast cancer and not another form of cancer. Breast cancer gets attention, funding, programming, and lots of great press. But it makes me feel selfish, spoiled, like I'm hogging too many of the resources that could be spread around to others doing battle with their own deadly diseases.
Where are the other awareness months? Actually, there are a few -- March is the National Colorectal Awareness Month, September is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness Month, May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month -- but we don't know much about them because people aren't shouting from the rafters about these critical causes, like they are about breast cancer.
It's not that it's unfair -- it's due to powerful and driven individuals, many of them survivors themselves, that breast cancer organizations and associations and walks and talks have proliferated our society. I don't know about all the pink products -- these may be nothing but money-making ventures -- but what a testament to the breast cancer community that the word is out about this horrible disease.
My wish is that more information was readily available for those whose cancers are just as devastating as mine. Thank goodness October is over. Now we can get down to the business of discussing more than just breast cancer. Hey, November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Let's start there.
