Many posts at DNA Science have been about families navigating life with a rare disease. I especially think of them during October, when so much attention is focused on breast cancer. One in eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in her life.
I know how important regular mammograms are – a scan late last year led to the surgery that likely saved my life. But I find my anxiety ratcheting up with the pervasive symbols and slogans, the pink apparel, labels, products, lit buildings, even garbage cans. Others in my thousands-strong closed breast cancer Facebook group are antsy too, although we don’t seem to be in the majority.
The pink October movement does a lot of good, in many ways. Still, I’ll skip the marches, for the reasons that others have posted on Facebook: I don’t need a reminder, I don’t want to be defined by an illness, and people are already aware of breast cancer. Instead here are a few other worthy causes that have awareness campaigns in October, not all of the conditions rare.
To continue reading go to DNA Science, my blog at Public Library of Science, where this post first appeared.
I know how important regular mammograms are – a scan late last year led to the surgery that likely saved my life. But I find my anxiety ratcheting up with the pervasive symbols and slogans, the pink apparel, labels, products, lit buildings, even garbage cans. Others in my thousands-strong closed breast cancer Facebook group are antsy too, although we don’t seem to be in the majority.
The pink October movement does a lot of good, in many ways. Still, I’ll skip the marches, for the reasons that others have posted on Facebook: I don’t need a reminder, I don’t want to be defined by an illness, and people are already aware of breast cancer. Instead here are a few other worthy causes that have awareness campaigns in October, not all of the conditions rare.
To continue reading go to DNA Science, my blog at Public Library of Science, where this post first appeared.