The National Football League (NFL) is turning pink, shelves are stocked with limited edition pink drinks, and there are pink ribbons everywhere. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The idea was concieved by Evelyn Lauder in 1993 to raise awareness that getting a mammogram is the most effective tool in the fight against breast cancer. The pink ribbon has become the symbol for the fight against breast cancer since the Susan G. Komen Foundation handed out the first pink ribbons in the 1991 New York City Race for Survivors.
Despite the popularity of the movement, not many people know who Susan G. Komen was or how the foundation that carries her name got its start. Susan Goodman Komen was born in 1943 and was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33. She died at the age of 36. Nancy Goodman, Susan’s sister, wanted to start something to raise awareness of breast cancer treatment and prevention in order to honor her sister’s memory, so she founded the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1982. Since the foundations beginnings breast cancer ribbons and the color pink have become more than a cause, they have become a fashion statement.
The “I Love Boobies” bracelets, made by the Keep A Breast foundation, have become popular among young people across the nation. They have raised a good amount of money, but many people do not believe the “boobies” products are a proper way to promote a serious cause. The slogan offends many survivors of breast cancer. Many feel that awareness and treatment is not about saving their “boobies,” it is about saving lives. This slogan along with many others is good for marketing and raising money, but can be offensive.
Early detection is the basis of the breast cancer awareness campaign. It is recommended, by the American Cancer Association, that women in their twenties and thirties get a mammogram every three years and past the age of forty, an exam every year. Most breast cancer symptoms do not appear until the cancer has spread out of the breast area, so early detection is critical. The procedure only takes about twenty minutes and has saved many lives. It is also recommended that women do a self-exam each month to detect any abnormalities.
According to breastcancer.org, about one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime and about 2,140 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and everything is turning pink as the country unites behind a good cause, the fight against a deadly disease.