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Friday, June 08, 2012

Breast cancer meme???

I have to get something off my chest... This week I got overloaded with requests to put a tiny heart ♥ on my Facebook wall. I am instructed to only send it to my female friends. The purpose: breast cancer awareness. We've seen earlier editions with posting the colour of your bra and other nonsense. I don't participate. Why not, you ask? Welll...
  • First and foremost: breast cancer doesn't only affect women. Men can get it too! Read about it here. So why exclude men?

  • Men have friends and relatives with breast cancer too, so if you want to raise awareness I ask you again: why exclude men?

  • Awareness? Really? I can't see how that works. Everyone already knows it exists and that it's horrible. How can an annoying 'game' like this help? It doesn't give information, it doesn't educate people about breast cancer. 

  • Have you ever thought how people with breast cancer look at it? I know people who have or had breast cancer (and knew some who died of it...) and most of them are against it, for different reasons. A survivor wrote this great post about it on her blog.
So... if you really want to help... Check yourself regularly. Donate to (or volunteer in) a cancer organisation. Raise money for cancer research. Support family and friends that are affected. Raise awareness by giving good information, share articles with substance. Or write one yourself like this woman did.
Thank you.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/6/12 13:11

    Exactly.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karen Knechtel15/6/12 10:11

    You are right, Cora. Thank you for this blog. You are so right. My Mother passed away from Breast Cancer over 20 years ago. I believe in raising awareness for sure. I work with Avon Canada Inc. and am proud to say that in the past 20 years, AVON WORLDWIDE has donated over 20 million dollars to Breast Cancer Research. We are working towards a cure one penny at a time. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think you got it right there. That heart-meme or what I should call it is just an empty gesture if nothing else goes with it, like a donation or some real work to help. It's horrible, like all cancer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have to say I agree!! My mother had breast cancer and the cancer went into her bones. A most horrible time to go through with her. My heart was totally broken when I lost her. I don't care to participate in the jewelry and tee shirts and little hearts to raise awareness. It is just a reminder of a very sad time for me. Donations are the way to go and possibly make things betterthrough research.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous21/9/12 00:57

    I agree, I'm a "survivor" of breast cancer, and it's my week of "anual check up". A time of fear, feelings are coming back....People don't help us with those stupid games....a good talk, a laughter together will do more good than the color of someones bra, and now they start with alcohol...Thanks Cora!

    ReplyDelete

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Love, Tink