March is colorectal cancer awareness month. Leading up to each March I go back and forth in forum conversations with people who want this year to be the year the world experiences some sort of magical CRC awareness miracle. While awareness is growing, there is of course no miracle. There are only faces – mine, yours, someone you met at your kid’s school or your neighbor or a relative.
Friday March 5 is ‘Dress in Blue Day’ across the US, when people dress in blue to show their solidarity with CRC advocates in raising awareness. There are a couple of cool videos of me out on the ‘net, dressed in blue and filmed in early 2009, telling my survivor story to Colon Cancer News. And I’ll wear blue again this Friday. Later this month, I’ll participate in C3′s 2010 Call on Congress, meeting with my senators and representative to discuss bills which provide screening for colon and rectal cancers. It’s the first year since diagnosis that I don’t have either scans or surgeries or recovery at this time, the first year I’ve ever gotten the chance to go. I’m excited and a little nervous and I can’t wait.
But today, I saw a message on Twitter about someone sponsoring a giveaway this week to benefit the Komen foundation and breast cancer advocacy. And me, the person who’s always maintained that advocacy and science don’t care what color awareness ribbon you wear, found myself thinking “By the goddess – you’ve already got October! March is colorectal cancer’s month!”
Before the hate mail starts – I’ve got breasts (both of them.) I do regular self-exams and have had mammograms on schedule (more or less) ever since I turned 40 (skipped them while doing active chemo, because they aren’t reliable then.) My paternal aunt and three of my cousins (her daughters) have all dealt personally with breast cancer. My oldest cousin died of recurrent mBC. Her youngest sister, positive for the BRCA genes, had a prophylactic double mastectomy. I get breast cancer awareness, people – I support it and I’ve even donated my writing services to Komen foundation fund-raising efforts.
But I’ve got a thought – maybe radical, but hear me out.
To truly raise awareness, we need to let the individual cancers assigned to months other than October shine. We need to get the pink-wash out of the center spotlight for 11 of the 12 months of the year, so that we can have a shot at raising awareness for the other cancers that kill people – lung cancer, the #1 killer of both men and women in this country; colon, rectal and anal cancers, which are the #2 cancers that kill both men and women, gynecologic cancers, prostate cancer, lymphoma, pancreatic, esophageal cancers.
Each of these cancers needs their time in the spotlight if we are ever going to successfully raise awareness. But to focus on these other cancers, we need to stop the pink madness, the saturation of pink year-round, the promotions from November to May for May’s country-wide Races for the Cure, and then the promotions from June through October for October’s breast cancer awareness events. Is it too much to ask for the center spotlight in the months that aren’t May or October? Is it too much to ask that the promotions designed to raise breast cancer awareness let some of the other cancers have their chance in the spotlight, their awareness months without fighting for air time and ‘net space or having their colors diluted by pink?
Cancer doesn’t care about the color of your awareness ribbon – but people do. And it’s people who need to be made more aware that colorectal cancers, lung cancer, gyn cancers, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, brain cancer and other cancers are as much or more likely to be fatal and to affect larger populations than BC.
So, with all due respect – stay out of my blue month, okay? I’ve got some awareness to raise for the cancer that will affect over 150,000 new patients and kill more than 50,000 men and women this year.
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My mom was diagnosed in late Oct.- early Nov. ’09 with anal cancer. I wanted to teach my kids about it and give them something to show support for their Nana. I’ve been trying to find the “color”, but because it’s not heard of very often, people don’t know about it. I have learned that, at this time, it’s being classified with colon/colorectal cancer. I wasn’t even aware that March was Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month! There wasn’t any announcements/advertising/advocating to inform people of it. You can bet if this was Breast Cancer, we’d be slapped in the face with it everytime we turn around.
Milissa – anal, rectal and colon cancers are lumped all together. But March is our month to make the world aware, and it’s a launching pad for activities throughout the rest of the year that can be led back toward increased education, screening and awareness. We can put a face on anal, rectal and colon cancers – our faces. Please join your voice with ours, and let the CRC community know how we can help your family with support.
Amen. I don’t understand all the emphasis on pink ( No offense to my friends fighting Breast Cancer). There was very little, if anything, in the news locally about Dress Blue, let alone Colon Cancer. I did promote Dress in Blue at work, and many participated. Yet I doubt they picked up the literature I put in the lobby.
They are so complacent!
COLON CANCER KILLS, PEOPLE! One of my Internet buddies was interviewed on TV about the cause. Perhaps we all need to give our local stations and newspapers a call and say, WE HAVE A STORY FOR YOU!
Amen, amen. My onco wears his pink ribbon tie all year round. I’m looking for a blue ribbon tie for him.
And we just had a pink golf tournament at our club in February.
I recognize that there are advances for cc and others that have come from breast cancer research. One of my closest friends has had breast cancer and one of my aunts died of breast cancer.
And one died of brain cancer, my brother died of kidney cancer. And my sis-in-law has smooth muscle cancer…an orphan cancer.
The more funding EACH kind of cancer enjoys, the better the cross-pollination of research will work for all of us.
AMEN to that! I’ll be wearing my blue on Friday! What is being done for the fight against breast cancer is great, but their fight is clouding the fight for other cancers that are MORE DEADLY than breast cancer. People need to be informed and encouraged to GET COLONOSCOPIES and it needs to become a topic that isn’t so awkward because it is happening to so many people. I’ll be donating to a runner in the Undy5000 this year to show my support for colon cancer awareness, and I hope that everyone can find a way to show their support this month of March.
Megan, that’s a terrific idea to support an Undy5000 near you – and people should know that if there isn’t an Undy5000 in their town, they can participate in and support the Colon Cancer Alliance (CCA) in the 2010 Virtual Undy 5000 online. Again – cancer doesn’t care about the color of your awareness ribbon, but this month, people need to see blue ribbons that stand out from the cloud of pink that too often defines cancer awareness. Women get colon and rectal cancers, too!
Be well!