Why do we even need a bra, ladies? Go without for a day to show support for breast cancer!
It's that time of the year again when stupid games dominate the Facebook landscape. They make no sense, and have no connection to breast cancer, they do nothing to actually raise awareness, let alone the far-more-needed funding. They exclude men, who can and do die from breast cancer.
The worst part is that some of these games are co-opting October 13 for their participation day. October 13 is the National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and these games aren't even relevant to any stage of breast cancer. How does going without a bra support the thousands of women who struggle with chemo and radiation and surgery and chemical menopause and metastasis? It doesn't.
It's Slactivism at its finest. Posting a random fruit as your status doesn't spread breast cancer awareness. Excluding men as part of your little inboxer games doesn't spread breast cancer awareness. Playing a game in secrecy certainly doesn't spread any sort of awareness. And it does nothing to help.
We have enough awareness of breast cancer itself. What we don't have is awareness of Metastatic Breast Cancer and what it really is. There's no cure. Breast cancer is not the "easy cancer". There is no cure. Thirty percent of women who detect theirs in an early stage go on to develop metastatic disease. An additional ten percent are metastatic from the time they're diagnosed.
When I was diagnosed, I thought it just meant I had to fight harder. It's just breast cancer, after all. Isn't that what we learn in October? Hope and a Cure? It's all about fighting, being a survivor, it's a beatable disease. I've had MBC for less than a year and I've lost count of how many women in groups I participate in have died from breast cancer. Not from treatment, not from something else, but from breast cancer that has metastasized beyond the breast. It goes to the bones. It goes to the brain. It goes to the lungs and liver, and those are just the most common four places.
One woman I knew, she welcomed me to a board when I'd joined, she was beautiful, inside and out. She was only thirty years old. She died several months ago from breast cancer. It's not a game. It's not a fruit. It's not a tee-hee status to keep the men guessing. It's a beast, a monster, and it's very, very real.
We get less than five percent of the funding for research for metastatic breast cancer. The rest goes to early awareness programs, and of course, the ever-important CEO bankrolls. There's no profit in the dying, even though the entire sea of pink is built on the backs of the dead. There's no hope in metastatic breast cancer, and it's not profitable. There's no cure, but that's the secret they can't afford to let out. There's no cure for the early stage breast cancers either. Thirty percent go on to develop metastasis, no matter what.
They can't afford to let that become known. They're all about Hope and Cure, and where would they be if people found out that neither existed? That no one ever talks about the 40,000 deaths each year in the United States due to metastatic breast cancer, that it includes both men and women, and women under 40? What would people do if they knew that the death rate hasn't changed a bit, even with all the years of early detection programs? Nothing has really changed. Breast Cancer is still the killer it has always been, and all we can do is delay it for a while. There's no hope, and no cure. Not without funding for research. There's research out there that shows brilliant promise, but we need funding.
Metavivor.org and MBCN.org are two organizations that funnel donations to research specifically for metastatic breast cancer.
The lives of women and men with breast cancer are not something for you to play a game with, we are not cutesy or naughty Facebook statuses, and we will not let you co-opt the one day of the entire pink month of October we have worked so very hard to get.
Hello! I hail from WA.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your opinion on "Walk for the cure" for breast cancer and the like? I personally find all walks for all diseases, cancer or otherwise, to be kind of pointless. It may help raise some funding (I don't know the logistics), but I look at it and think "How does walking around in a certain colour help cure cancer?"
It's how I feel about the current ASL ice bucket challenge. Just donate quietly. Why do we need to make a scene about it? How does a bucket of ice, or a lack of bra, or a purse raise awareness?
Hi! That's a very good question. I find "walk for the cure" to be especially pointless and misleading since the majority of the money goes to early screening programs, which is NOT a cure and doesn't actually prevent women from getting BC.
DeleteBut if they do raise funding for research for better treatments and a cure, I can only say more power to them. I'm not sure how it all works, walking to raise money and such.
I think the making a scene is exactly the reason the ALS challenge took off as much as it did. It appeals to most people's inner attention-ego, gives them an excuse to post a video of themselves on social media, and as it gained steam, it became a coveted thing, to get challenged, get named. Most people like attention. And I can't say it didn't work considering how much was raised for research.
If something actually tries to bring knowledge and awareness and funding for research and a cure, then that's fine. I may not like the specifics personally, but as long as the money's going to actual research and not just early awareness programs and CEO bankrolls, I can't complain too much. The games I mentioned don't actually do anything for awareness, and certainly do nothing to raise funding for research, they turn breast cancer into something silly and fun, while not actually doing anything for anyone with breast cancer.
I hope that made sense. I'm still working through my first cuppa coffee.