Our disease is not pretty and it is not pink. We need to be taken seriously and even though all the "pink ribbon campaigns" have raised awareness, they have also decreased the reality of breast cancer. Those outside of this world don't know what we really have to endure and what is asked of us. All we ask is that we are treated with respect and not tied up in a bow to make those who don't have cancer feel better.
OUR CURE IS OUT THERE IN A TEST TUBE SOMEPLACE RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT.
We need to fund the scientist who is holding that test tube.
The No Surrender Breast Cancer Foundation will award grants to the strongest and most promising research projects happening at this very moment. Please see our Research Grant page for more information. The project that shows the most promise will be funded by our foundation and we, as the warriors on the front lines, will have a hand in a possible brighter future for our daughters and their daughters.
THINK
Before you get all tied up in a piece of pink ribbon think about this.
Check to see where the money is going to.
Check to see how much goes to the actual breast cancer "charity"
Check to see if it is a real charity.
Check to see if it is really "research"
Our CURE isn't in a pink vacuum. It isn't in a pink suduko puzzle or a pink can of cat food.
Go to the NIH and look up their designated breast cancer research labs.
THEN decide. Do you need a pink spatula? Or can you keep your old one and send the money it would cost to buy the pink spatula directly to the lab of your choice? No middle man. No percentage points. The whole amount.
We are losing a generation of women. Hit the beast where it hurts. In the test tube. Because we ain't gonna touch it with pink toilet paper.
TOP TEN PINK THINGS ABOUT BREAST CANCER
10. Your pee after an infusion of Adriamycin
9. Your reconstructed breast right before cellulits sets in
8. Your scalp when you take your wig off
7. Your eyes from running all day because of chemo
6. Your arm when you have lymphedema
5. Your lips from mouth sores from chemo
4. Your face and neck when a hot flash hits
3. Your scars on your breasts
2. Your port when they can't access it and need to flush it with heparin
1. Your well meaning friends when you tell them you don't need a pink ribbon to be aware of breast cancer.
Memorial Day Call To Arms
Memorial Day is not just the start of summer. It is a day set aside to honor those who have fought valiant battles and gave the ultimate sacrifice: their lives. Everyone has someone in their family who is a veteran, some have lost them in wars over the years. Some have family serving right now in the armed forces.
At this time, we honor all who have served. And we will always remember those who have been lost.
On another front line, there is a tender army fighting every day for their lives. They fight while they keep their jobs, take care of their kids, keep the family together and try to live the best they can. They have wounds from the battle, not from bullets, but from surgeons and chemicals. They keep going, they look forward and try not to look back.
Some, however, are challenged with new attacks from a returning enemy. They are suddenly classified as being at the end of their fight when, in fact, they have only just started it. No one can imagine what it is like to fight every day and live from scan to scan. But they do so, bravely and valiantly.
There have been casualties in this war. In fact, we lose over 40,000 a year. An entire generation of beautiful, vital, living, breathing, moms, daughters, sisters, lovers and friends are gone. This Memorial Day, we honor those lost on the front lines of breast cancer. May someone, someday, see the figure of 40,000 deaths a year, and make a sea change in the funding for research in the cure for this disease.
There are other, horrible diseases. They need funding too. But there is an inequity and it must be addressed. AIDS in America, gets four times the funding that breast cancer does, and the annual death toll is under 11,000 a year for the patients who are afflicted with that disease. We are not suggesting giving less to HIV/AIDS in America, but level the playing field so women with breast cancer can also have the types of drug combinations that keep AIDS patients alive and thriving for 25 plus years.
When 40,000 women are taken from America every year, we ask how vital it is to spend $500,000,000 just for the take off of the Space Shuttle that serves as a giant service station in space. Is it possible to reduce the number of flights to change the spark plugs on the International Space Station and take that money and give it to an NIH lab currently working on better detection, more effective treatments, and gene identification for targeted eradication of this disease?
There are many ways money can be redirected. We don’t have the answer. But we have just one request: We ask that next Memorial Day, may this list of 40,000 be shorter.
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