Tired of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As everyone knows, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My mother had breast cancer when she was in her late 70’s but they caught it very early and after months of treatments the cancer was eliminated. We are all thankful that she has been cancer free for years now. So you would think that I would have a greater appreciation for all of the hoopla this month regarding breast cancer. But to be honest I am more than a bit tired of it all.

In addition to my mother, I have known half a dozen or more women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. All of them caught it early and are doing fine now. So on one hand I agree with the push for early diagnosis. But this is something that every woman knows. And if she doesn’t her doctor or OBGYN will be after her to get a mammogram. By now everyone knows about breast cancer, so do we really need an entire month devoted to this one disease?

Actually this is beginning to remind me of Jerry Lewis’s annual telethon to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. Jerry Lewis has been holding a telethon for 44 years, that’s right ever since 1965 he has been on TV in September begging for money. And each year he raises millions and millions of dollars, in fact he received a record $65 million last year alone. Good heavens. What do they do with all those millions? You would think by now that they would have found a cure what with all those donations each year.

Jerry Lewis and MDA have less than 24 hours to beg for money. Breast cancer has been given an entire month. A little online research showed me that Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) has been going on for 25 years now! Again, like MDA, where has all the money collected from those walks and donations for the past 25 years gone? In fact, unlike MDA, they do know how to cure breast cancer if caught in time, so why do they still need all these millions? Not surprisingly, on the website for BCAM I couldn’t find any mention of how much money has been raised in the past Octobers. But with all the corporate sponsorships I am sure it is probably more than what Jerry raises for “his kids”.

I realize that Muscular Dystrophy and breast cancer are terrible diseases. But there are other diseases out there which are overshadowed by these bigger, much publicized diseases. It is wonderful that more and more women are surviving breast cancer but if an infant is diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis the diagnosis is death. Maybe not immediately but a parent of a CF infant knows that their child will lead a difficult life full of pills, breathing treatments, hospitalizations, diabetes, lung transplants and operations and even then if the baby is lucky she or he will die in their mid thirties, although many still die in their teens and twenties.

Yet with what few funds CF has received, their researches have been successful in increasing the years a CF child might live. As the chart shows, in 1979 a CF child would , on average, only live to 18; today it is nearly 37, doubling their lives. As wonderful as this is, 37 is way too young to die, especially when the average person can expect to live into their 70 and 80's.

As previously mentioned, my 81 year old mother had breast cancer a few years ago. Of course I am thrilled that she beat it and has remained cancer free. However, my 8 year old niece has Cystic Fibrosis. Although she is remaining healthy due to massive doses of pills, breathing treatments and painful chest palpitations we know that she will die in her mid thirties or younger for there is no cure. And yet CF can raise only a fraction of the money that goes to breast cancer or MD.

I do have empathy for children and women with MD or breast cancer. Yet these diseases attract so much attention that it results in massive corporate sponsorships and donations from the population which then makes it difficult for other diseases to obtain donations. Although CF has no cure and results in death it is still nearly impossible to raise awareness and thus money to find a cure because of these other “popular” diseases.

During October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, if you are planning to donate money to breast cancer, why not take a portion of your donation to help out the children with CF. Therefore, if you planned to give $100 to the breast cancer foundation, could you please give $20 to CF and $80 to breast cancer instead? This way you will help both and possibly give the children with Cystic Fibrosis a chance to live a long and healthy life.

To make a donation to Cystic Fibrosis go to the following website: www.cff.org/lwc/auntpatti

Thank you.