October’s Fall is officially upon us. With Fall comes beautiful colors of leaves changing from green to beautiful tints of yellows, reds, and oranges. Another popular color that comes to mind for the month is pink, for breast cancer awareness. It's as if October is it's own season, celebrated and rooted for just like someone's favorite NFL team. Every October, hits different, and although awareness is critical, sometimes seeing that pink ribbon hits me with a wave of emotions; for me and thousands of other women.
I am a face to the 1 in 8 women who got diagnosed with breast cancer and represents that pink ribbon. As the day from diagnosis becomes more of a memory, it still is hard to write that at age 22 I was diagnosed with stage 2 triple positive breast cancer.
While companies create merchandise to support this month, whether their proceeds go to cancer research, or not (as some only sell for the sole purpose of making money off this disease). I ask only one thing: please do not forget about the girl behind the ribbon.
This month when you wear your pink or purchase merchandise with a pink ribbon I want you to think.
I want you to visualize the girl, who was just told her life is never going to be the same again. Think of the lady that just took a shower and had handfuls of her hair wash down the drain. Imagine the girl who takes medicine to help with side-effects such as: nausea, aches, fatigue, and hot flashes but the medication given to help, also has it’s own list of side effects. I want you to envision the women who is going under the knife and drastically changing her appearance not for the “free boob job” but in hopes that the doctor removes all the cancerous cells in her body. Think of the lady who just had a double mastectomy, whose surgical drains make her feel like an ugly robot. Imagine the girl who has to go in for radiation daily, despite her skin being raw and in pain. Picture the woman experiencing infertility, rushing in to freeze any viable eggs she can in hopes that one day she will be able to conceive naturally, fully aware that it might not even be a possibility her body is forced into medically induced menopause. Imagine the survivor who with each passing day thinks of a re-occurrence and constantly scans their body for something to not be right, that will have them reface this nightmare again. See the girl who is having a hard time adapting to her ‘new normal’ and hates the scars that look back at her in the mirror. Know that there is a girl out their whose breast cancer is incurable despite several rounds of chemo, but still goes to treatment determined to persevere.
Breast cancer is not: frilly tutus, fuzzy socks, hats, phone cases, headbands, lanyards, jewelry, bananas, magnets or the plethora of other merchandise you can buy that has a pink ribbon on it.
Because, eventually the month will end, and the merchandise will be off the shelves. However, the cancer patients journey is not seasonal like the weather. We live with Breast Cancer at the forefront of our minds, daily.
So please, do not forget about the girl behind the ribbon.
 |
June 2016: Post Shave. One of the realities of cancer.
Disclaimer: This blog was
prepared by Brittney Mink-Eiklor in her personal capacity. The opinions
expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of
outside parties.
(Un)Pretty in Pink: The Truth About a Breast Cancer Diagnosis: YSC Blog. (2019, October 16). Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://blog.youngsurvival.org/unpretty-in-pink/.
|
