October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and there are posts and ads all over social media, at sporting events, and on almost every product you can think of. While raising awareness is great (and important), some of us within the cancer community see Breast Cancer Awareness Month a bit differently. The truth is whether you’ve had some form of cancer, know someone who has, or have been fortunate to have zero connection to this horrible disease, we are all aware of Breast Cancer. We know it exists, we know it can kill you. We can do better, do more than pink ribbons.
When a business raises awareness by slapping a pink ribbon on their product, it is, in many cases, a marketing gimmick to encourage you to buy their product. In reality, it does nothing to save lives, to improve early detection, or to raise money for research. In many instances such a small portion of the money raised goes toward improving breast cancer outcomes. Unfortunately, in these cases, most of that money (if not all) goes back to the organization. If businesses really want to make a difference, they need to do more than adding pink ribbons to their products; teach women how to do self exams, share resources for free mammograms (yes, there are resources for FREE mammograms), and educate people about symptoms and early detection.
September is Blood Cancer Awareness month - blood cancer does not get all of the fanfare as some other cancers do. It is nowhere near as glamorous as marketers perceive breast cancer to be, so it typically doesn’t get the attention that we see for some other cancers. Reading the posts and discussions within the cancer community on Breast Cancer Awareness this month got me thinking; How can we improve early detection? Not just of breast cancer or blood cancer, but for all cancers? What can the everyday person do to prevent cancer or reduce risk to themselves or a loved one? How can we improve outcomes for survivors and thrivers?
I’ve been living with lymphoma since October 11, 2018. Every September since my diagnosis I post about blood cancer, I share my story, and share signs and symptoms to watch for. But the reality is that non-Hodgkin lymphoma is often difficult to diagnose. It often goes undetected for years and even when symptoms do begin to surface, they can often be explained away as other minor conditions.
I would say I probably knew something was wrong for about 3 years before I was diagnosed. Early on, I would google the symptoms and “Dr Google” and WebMD would diagnose me with everything from an iron deficiency to menopause (at 35 years old) to Leukemia/Lymphoma. People say, don’t Google your symptoms, it’s going to give you the worst possible diagnosis. I’ve even had doctors (pre-diagnosis) tell me to stay off Google. As a result, I was easily able to talk myself out of my early symptoms being cancer; no family history, not within the typical age group, not within the typical demographics, symptoms are probably some acute (minor) condition. But the truth is, cancer can affect anyone, of any age, and any socioeconomic background regardless of family history and in my case, Google was right.
In Spite of all the things convincing me it was nothing, I did go so far as making appointments and describing my symptoms to my doctors. However, at most of these appointments, I‘d see the look on their faces, the one that told me I was over thinking things, that you shouldn’t Google because you’ll get the worst case scenrios, and I would second guess myself. I’d read those facial expressions, and before I’d even finished describing what was going on, I’d begin offering explanations and probable causes for the symptoms, thereby helping to lead them away from considering testing or a possible Cancer diagnosis.
Looking back now, I can pinpoint these moments and remember the details of those conversations. Often wondering if I had said less to divert them, or been more insistent on following up on the symptoms, if I would have had an earlier diagnosis. The key here is I KNEW in my gut that something was wrong. I should have followed my intuition and been more insistent in advocating for myself. The doctor should have dug deeper. My cancer is slow growing, so fortunately I don’t think this lapse in time between symptom onset and diagnosis would likely have changed the outcome for me - that is unless early detection could have saved my spleen. Something l'll most likely never know. For other types of cancers, three years could mean the difference in life and death; between a treatable diagnosis and a death sentence.
Some businesses have realized that they can do more. In 2009, the NFL teamed up with the American Cancer Society and changed their annual October campaign from Breast Cancer Awareness to Crucial Catch - a campaign that focuses on broad prevention and early detection of all types of cancer. They moved away from pink ribbons and transitioned to educating fans and providing resources to the communities that need it most. In addition to educating the millions of fans the NFL connects with every day, according to the American Cancer Society, Crucial Catch has “raised more than $27 million and impacted over one million people” in under resourced communities. Furthermore, according to Business Insider, The NFL “takes a 25% royalty from the wholesale price (1/2 retail), and donates 90% of royalty to American Cancer Society”. To break it down in simple terms, this means, “for every $100 sold, $12.50 goes to the NFL. Of that, $11.25 goes to the American Cancer Society“ and the NFL only keeps $0.75.
Bottom line? Regardless of whether it’s breast cancer, blood cancer, or whatever other type of cancer, let’s normalize talking about cancer and doing something about it. Discuss symptoms to watch for, encourage one another to go for annual testing and pre-screenings. Get any questionable symptoms checked out by your doctor. Trust your gut. If it feels wrong, get it checked. Advocate for yourself and those that you love.
Get your yearly skin check, get your yearly mammogram, go get that colonoscopy and encourage those you love to do the same.
Resources:
BreastCancer.org - Breast Self Exam
American Academy of Dermatology Association - ABCDEs of Melanoma
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