Breast cancer is not a rite of passage in the voyage of womanhood. It is not a status game to play. Posting obscure things or sentences of off-color humor do nothing to promote awareness of breast cancer in general, let alone metastatic breast cancer.
Taking selfies without make-up does not support people with breast cancer. Going braless is not a thing to do to show solidarity. There's been efforts to turn October 13 into braless day to show support for breast cancer.
News Flash. October 13 is already spoken for. It's the National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Yes, this is a real thing, that a group of women from the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network lobbied hard to get. The stage that accounts for 40,000 deaths in the USA each year gets one whole day, a sort of a backhanded acknowledgement, throughout the entire pink month.
And some people feel it's the perfect day to promote playing games.
Now, if you've played the games, don't feel guilty. What's done is done, and while you didn't spread awareness, you didn't actively harm anyone either. But the next time they come your way, don't participate. Instead, post a fact about Breast Cancer, like how 155,000 Americans are living with Metastatic Breast Cancer right now, or how only 2% of the funding raised for breast cancer goes to research for MBC.But respect and honor our day. Forty percent of the people with breast cancer are metastatic. Thirty were treated for earlier stage cancer, and ten percent were already metastatic at the time of diagnosis. We get 2% of the funding. We deserve more than just that, more than just that one day we have to honor the fallen. But it's what we have, allow us that much.
When the games come your way, take it as an opportunity to educate. Only then will they help spread awareness.
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