REFLECTIONS ON PINK RIBBONS

If I were superstitious, I'd say that I've brought this on myself by my critical thoughts and comments about all the "hype" about breast cancer awareness. I've criticized what seem like gratuitous promotions: sexual innuendos posted as Facebook statuses and campaigns based on images of busty young women in tight pink T-shirts. After all, the median age of breast cancer diagnosis is 61 and median age of death by breast cancer is 68. Who isn't aware of breast cancer? Why sexualize a disease? Because sex sells, I guess. I've suspected some of this has to do with the American obsession with female breasts. And I've been skeptical of corporations jumping on the breast cancer bandwagon, selling all things pink and promising to give a portion of profits for research. I've wondered if some of this is just good PR and a way to capitalize on a popular cause.

I've never minimized the seriousness of the disease or the need for fund-raising and research. I've had one friend who died tragically, painfully and fairly young from breast cancer. I've had other friends who've had miserable experiences with aggressive breast cancers, but who are now considered survivors. I have participated in the Race for the Cure a few times, twice with friends who've survived particularly rough battles with the disease.

But I think there are other diseases that the public should be just as aware of. I've known people who died young from other cancers and diseases that were every bit as heartbreaking. So I've often wondered, and too often wondered aloud, why breast cancer seems to get so much more attention and funding than other serious diseases. I've wished and hoped that those other diseases would get their fair share of research funding too, at least proportionate to the number of people affected. It would be hard, I guess, to use sex to promote awareness of colon cancer, for example.

Well, a couple days ago, I was diagnosed with a malignant breast tumor and I will be consulting with a surgeon next week. I'll know much more after that, but what I think I know now that it is small, non-aggressive, but invasive ductal carcinoma "grade 1," and has been caught early. That will probably only mean anything to people with breast cancer experience. My gynecologist thinks the most likely best treatment scenario will be lumpectomy followed by radiation.

So now I am going to benefit from all that money raised for breast cancer research and I am truly thankful for it. I am already finding the Susan G. Komen Foundation to be a great source of information. I am thankful for the medical technology that allowed for early detection and makes my prognosis so much more positive than it might have been a few decades ago. But I still hope people, especially children, suffering from other serious diseases can benefit  just as much from fund-raising and research. And right now, I feel anything but sexy.
 
More than public awareness campaigns, pink ribbons and Facebook posts daring people to re-post to prove they care about cancer patients, I am thankful for friends and family who pray for me. I'm thankful for friends who have walked this road before me and are available to talk to. I'm especially thankful for my supportive, loving husband and children.

Although I'll joke about bringing this on myself, I've tasted enough of God's grace to know He's not punishing me for anything, but that He will use this experience to bring about His own good purposes. I thank Him that my cancer was caught early, my tumor is small, and this didn't occur earlier in my life while I was raising my children. I know God's love and care for me are steadfast, no less and no more than they are for my friends whose experiences have been harder than I expect mine to be. And He'll be with me if this experience brings unpleasant surprises. None of it will surprise Him. I thank Him for His abiding presence through the good times and the hard ones and I will trust Him.