cancer color wars

Hissy_Fitz said:

What a super article....and
What a super article....and the links to related ones, I read those, as well. I found this particularly true, and poignant, regarding any Cancer diagnosis..."You will go from smug well to terrified sick in nothing flat. I guarantee it."

I have to admit, I was about as unaware of Ovarian Cancer as one can be, before it came to roost on my doorstep. Now, like Christie, I am driven to spread the word, to educate women in general and lobby for the development of better treatment and earlier detection.

Unfortunately, OC (like prostate, liver, and other cancers) just isn't as marketable as Breast Cancer. Who wants to buy/wear a tee shirt with a picture of ovaries on it? My daughter has one of the "save second base" shirts and she loves it....such a cute slogan, I admit. Maybe the BC movement has sexualized the disease, but who cares? If it were possible to dress up the Ovarian Cancer movement in something sexy - even sleazy - and sell it to the public, who would in turn hand over all their spare change from every grocery store transaction in America for a whole month, I'd be all over that in a New York minute.

The BC awareness campaign is huge (raising 1.5 BILLION dollars since 1982), but it began with just one person - Nancy Brinker - and the promise she made her dying sister (Susan G Komen). As luck would have it, Nancy was married to an extremely wealthy man, who initially bankrolled the Komen Foundation and really made it all possible. He had the money and the connections (plus more than a little political clout) and his wife had the grit and determination to make good use of them.

Gilda Radner put a face on OC for many of us. I wish Angelina Jolie would step up to the plate and dedicate some time and money in memory of her mom, who died of Ovarian Cancer at the age of 57. She has way more of both than Norman Brinker.

There is definitely some cut-throat competition for money within the Cancer awareness world. The Susan G Komen Foundation has filed suits against other Cancer related non-profits for using such terms as "for the cure", and routinely warns other groups "against any use of pink in conjunction with 'cure.' "

I received a phone call just a few weeks ago, soliciting money for Breast Cancer. When I told the caller that I was an Ovarian Cancer patient, he didn't miss a beat in his sales pitch. It really was as if no color, other than pink, matters.

Carlene

leesag said:

Celebrity Spokeswoman
I wish Kathy Bates was more "out there" too. She's an OVCA survivor.

Hissy_Fitz said:

Kathy Bates
I saw an interview with Kathy Bates not too long ago, in which she said she did not go public with her OVCA battle because she was just too emotionally overwhelmed at the time by her diagnosis. Hers was Stage I. Here is a quote from her Today Show appearance.


“When I was going through it, I think I just needed to go through and not really deal with anything but what I had in front of me. I even got to the point where I didn’t go with my friends to chemo. I went by myself. I just had to really to do it on my own,” Bates said.

A friend who is with the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance helped convince Bates to go public, and she has since filmed a public service announcement about the disease.

“I’ve decided to share my story and maybe help other women, because early detection is the key in this kind of cancer,” Bates said. “I was so lucky to find it early. Paying attention to your body and paying attention to certain symptoms and being aware — it saved my life.”

newhopechurchli said:

I was just thinking about this..
September passed and I really didn't see anything about ovarian cancer.... but I saw upcoming Octobers "Breast Cancer Awareness" messages EVERYWHERE. I am very happy for those with breast cancer.... the awareness brings more funds for research and clinical trials.... but I would like to see A LITTLE bit about Ovarian Cancer