Breast Cancer Awareness Should Be a Priority 12 Months Out of the Year – Not Just in October

It may be thoughts of pink ribbons and walks to support breast cancer for some, but here’s what the month of October brings for 074ATE1, a nonprofit organization that deals with the battle of breast cancer not just in the month of October, but every day of the year:

Never before has a month sparked so many emotions in so many. Is there a grown up alive who isn’t ‘aware’ of breast cancer? If there is, point me in their direction because I want to live in that state of denial for awhile.

October is ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’, an ingenious marketing scheme brought to you by Astra-Zeneca (the makers of Tamoxifen) and if you step foot outside of your home, you’re likely to trip over a pink ribbon somewhere (thank you Estee Lauder). Did you know that the very first breast cancer ‘ribbon’ was actually salmon colored and was created by Charlotte Haley, a woman who had many female family members affected by breast cancer and created the ribbon as a symbol to incite action to fund research for and education about the disease? She literally created and passed out her homemade ribbons to create ‘awareness’. Self Magazine and Estee Lauder got wind of her campaign and wanted in on it. Charlotte politely, but firmly turned them down, stating that this was about the disease and NOT about their ‘bottom line’. This response was not what they had hoped for and they were counseled to just change the color and create their own campaign, and hence….the pretty pink ribbon was born. While no one can argue the significance and power of a symbol to raise awareness about a cause, it can be noted as being somewhat hypocritical to plaster a pink ribbon all over products that may contain known and suspected carcinogens. It is also unfair to lead consumers into a trap of believing a significant amount of their purchase will fund important programs but yet be vague about the ‘specifics’ of those programs. If those campaigns were effective, we could ask ourselves why the rates of diagnosed women continue to worsen and why companies continue to use questionable ingredients in their products as more and more studies indicate links between those chemicals and cancerous tumors. To my thinking, you must have a cause before you can have a cure and quite frankly the cause is becoming more and more apparent, especially when you consider that an estimated 90% of cancer is environmentally caused. Consider that the European Union bans almost 2000 toxic chemicals from their personal care items and the United States bans 10. There is a lot of food for thought here.

So we circle back to ‘October’. What DOES it mean to you? I am the Founder and President of an organization that supports breast cancer patients. The mission of ’074ATE1′ is to create a ‘bridge’ that connects those facing challenging times and those who are able to offer assistance. We do not need to raise ‘awareness’ and we do not help to find a ‘cure’. We believe a cure may come when the causes begin to be eliminated. We believe that every woman is entitled to have strong feelings about ‘October’ but appropriate self care, and not just breast care, should be a priority 12 months out of the year. We believe that a ribbon can be a symbol of strength, courage, and bravery and respect those who take the month of October to celebrate their journeys and honor those who have faced breast cancer. We also respect that some women could view it as an evil marketing tool that turns the face of the disease into a cute pink package and not the emotional, shell shocked, fearful faces of the newly diagnosed, the weary and pain filled faces of those in treatment, the apprehensive yet slightly more relaxed faces of those who have come out on the other side of their treatment, and the grieving and hollow faces of those who have lost loved ones. PEOPLE are breast cancer, not corporations and not ribbons. For us, October means apples and Halloween and cooler temperatures. We are all too aware of breast cancer every month of the year.

What does ‘October’ mean to you?

- This post was created by 074ATE1 and edited by Nicole Linardos