What do you want people to know about Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

moderators
moderators Posts: 8,612
edited November 9 in Advocacy

As we enter October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you'll hear a lot of words used to talk about breast cancer and people who have it. Some of these words might make you feel strong and supported, while others might make you feel worried or left out.

Words like "fight" and "battle" can inspire some people — they can make you feel like you have the power to face the disease and take control. But for others, these words don’t match how they feel and can make them tired or scared.

If you have or are recovering from breast cancer, or if you're supporting someone who has it, what do you want people to know about Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Share with us below to help get your message to those who need to hear it.

And, take our new poll: How does Breast Cancer Awareness Month make you feel?

Comments

  • bcincolorado
    bcincolorado Member Posts: 4,741

    Very well said for many of us. I get offended every year when someone I worked with has a need to send me something pink. I know she lost her own mother to BC and when I was diagnosed think it hit her a lot I guess and I am trying to be compassionate but I kind of wish she would just stop. I have to try to remember her motives for doing this and never wear it.

  • katg
    katg Member Posts: 248

    exbrnxgrl-

    Beautifully said.

  • moderators
    moderators Posts: 8,612

    This is all wonderful insight so far! Please, everyone, keep sharing! Thank you for participating❤️

  • katg
    katg Member Posts: 248

    Having a dbl mastectomy means i will never have a mammogram again. I had never had one till i was 60 and found my lump myself. I had two more after till all was removed. I have an US in March. This is at the hospital i had my surgery at. I am though, moving to the hospital my medical oncologist went to and my breast surgeon. With the BRCA2 mutation, I want to be at hospitals that will contact me if any research or info arrives that could ensure my mutations do no more harm. At City of Hope, I will be a patient for life. This tues i have my 2-week visit and a CT scan on my chest. See of the newer two small images remain, stayed the same or changed in my lungs. I was looking at scans i have had that spoke of an expander visible and a part tip in my vein. Fear brings worry. So many with breast cancer live long lives. It is not a death sentence. I do hope all the paths breast cancer took me down, remain a path i will keep walking to live healthy.

  • jons_girl
    jons_girl Member Posts: 461

    "What do you want people to know about Breast Cancer Awareness Month?"

    I agree with so much that has been said already.

    The ‘month’ is a reminder to me that I was fortunate to have caught (felt) my tumor early. Because I felt the tumor, a ultrasound was also done after the useless mammogram saw nothing (even with the sticker on the tumor). I had c/d level breast density at the time.

    I think at the minimum a screening ultrasound should be required for every patient with dense breast tissue. We depend on radiologists to catch our ‘snowflake’ in a snowstorm on a 3D mammogram, because ultrasound or MRI are not the ‘gold standard’ for screening for breast cancer. Women should not have to beg their Primary Docs for additional screening post mammo when they get ‘the letter’ that states ‘you have dense breast tissue and may want to talk to your doctor about having other screening’. What a joke!! How many women read that letter and think….’wow! I better get another screening!’ ?? And what if the woman doesn’t speak English? Who advocates for them?

    The notification system post ‘gold standard’ mammo is still very imperfect and needs help! It’s great they now send letters notifying women of breast density. But it’s still not enough.

    I’m grateful to be post br cancer 7 yrs. I try to educate those women in my life about dense breast tissue and the importance of scans. My church partners with a local health systems mobile mammo van. I coordinate a mobile mammo clinic for my church community three times a year. Every woman who arrives at clinic I make sure they are aware of breast density and what having it means.

  • goldensrbest
    goldensrbest Member Posts: 727

    We have a Junior Women’s Club in my community. They have a breast cancer run to raise funds. Part of it involves selling pink ribbons to local businesses to put on their store fronts. I emailed them with all the statistics on MBC and asked them to please consider using the MBC ribbon along with the traditional pink ribbon. The response I received was quite frustrating - they wouldn’t add the ribbon as they only fund raise and do not purport to educate. How very sad.

  • bella6162
    bella6162 Member Posts: 3

    I never understood the commercialization of a deadly disease but at times the pink stuff puts a smile on my face. For those supporting or caring for anyone with bc but they don’t have bc or any cancer, I believe it’s important to observe more than voicing opinions to the patient. Unless they have the disease bc or other cancer, it’s not an easy dx tx to endure. It’s there and I’m confident with my oncology team (my nurse was a triple negative and looks great) yet I’m aware of the depth of seriousness bc carries. I’m sad a famous celebrity succumbed to bc after being in remission for 20 years yet every body is unique in function and reaction to tx. I’m very aware of death either sooner or later. It’s a vulnerable topic for me. I only feel somewhat comfortable participating in bc forums like this one I recently joined. Thx for reading.

  • exbrnxgrl
    exbrnxgrl Member Posts: 5,269

    This is from a CNN newsfeed piece. While it highlighted the fact that overall deaths had decreased, the number is still staggering. Hard to believe that so many think bc is highly curable and hardly anyone dies. 42, 000 is a substantial number. Awareness simply glosses over this (pink) elephant in the room.

    “They project that this year, nearly 311,000 cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among US women, affecting about 1 in 8, and more than 42,000 women will die from breast cancer.”

  • harley07
    harley07 Member Posts: 357

    Mostly I ignore the pink washing during October and it doesn’t bother me. However, like dancemom my gym is holding a ‘wear pink’ while you work out the week of October 5. No fundraising just to ‘support our community”. I’ll be wearing my usual gray and black. The whole thing just seems odd and more of a marketing tool.

    I completed chemo for ovarian cancer 3 weeks ago so I am bald, although I wear a cap or turban. I will feel awkward going to the gym next week as I feel I’ll stand out with my bald head. Just seems like a poorly thought out marketing campaign.

  • dmataraz1
    dmataraz1 Member Posts: 24
    edited October 5

    The message for those that don’t have breast cancer is to get your yearly mammogram. I was lucky that my DCIS was found very early on my mammogram in January. I just completed my first week of radiation treatment and I have been wearing a breast cancer awareness shirt 👚 to every appointment. Had I skipped my mammogram for the second year in a row my diagnosis could have been much worse.

  • moderators
    moderators Posts: 8,612

    Thank you for continuing to share ❤️