NWIN Law Enforcement Cops for a Cure will be heading to Chicago August 5 - 7 to walk - on purpose - 60 miles in 3 days. All for an amazing cause...
The following is a re-write of an article written in August of 2007 ..
Having just completed walking 60 +/-miles in 3 Days,with hundreds of emotional moments and sound bites replaying in my mind, the one that resounds loudest was sitting on the concrete steps, adjacent to the Michigan Ave sidewalk, East of Randolph, at Millennium Park (Chicago) - less than 2 miles from FINISH LINE!!
Walking past him, at approximately #1200 out of #2400 walkers, "he" sat there shaking his head "no" (side to side) repeating this chant: "Walking ain't gonna cure breast cancer!"
Over and over...
"Walkin' ain't gonna cure breast cancer."
He continued shaking head no, no, no - looking at anyone who would look at him, square in the eye...
"Walking ain't gonna cure breast cancer." Over and over he shook his head and repeated his chant...
Not being able to stand it any longer, and in my most intelligent of replies I retorted "well walking is doing a lot more than you are just sitting there, buddy."
Did I REALLY just say that?
Yep, now THAT was an intelligent, educational, kind and enlightening reply.
Wow.
The day before, Day 2, thousands were walking -a mammoth SEA of Pink: BOOBs on sun visors, BOOBS of various NAMES written all over shirts: "Titty-titty Bang Bang", "Boob-i-licious", "Happy Hooters", "Boob Supporters", "Itty-BItty-Titty-Committee", etc.
There were PINK ribbons, PINK hats, PINK boas, male cops and firefighters in PINK shirts directing traffic and cheering the walkers on. It was a virtual PINK FEST and a lady approaches the gal I was striding with at the time and asks: "what is all this pink for? what's the walk for??
Stopping her stride, and looking at her with daggers, my friend replied: "are you kidding me? (pregnant pause) for real? (another pregnant pause) It's for BREAST CANCER! BREAST CANCER!"
Curious lady vanished into a local storefront - most likely licking her wounds... ouch...
There's something about being a cancer survivor (like my bristling friend) or co-survivor or Breast Friend Forever of a breast cancer survivor- that makes one sensitive or passionate (both, actually) about this disease. Hmm, could be simply the "life and death!" factor...or the possibility that our children could grow up motherless that surely makes us a tad sensitive...
And we who are possessed with the spirit of advocacy, of awareness of the need to fight in a compassionate army - and battle in a war for healthy bodies - we PRESUME people "get" us.
get "pink"
get "it"
But the realities are this:
1) Pink is a color
2) Pink will not cure breast cancer
--wearing pink on our head, pink bra over our clothes, pink ribbons pinned all over our bodies while walking and passing out breast health information and sharing the importance of early detection - does NOT cure breast cancer NOR does it mean just because it matters to me that it matters to the rest of the world...
Which brings us to walking...
"walking" in and of itself truly WILL NOT cure breast cancer. As much as it troubled me what the smart-butt guy said - "walking ain't gonna cure breast cancer" - he was right... it will make us feel stronger, create a healthier body ... but it won't CURE...
BUT: walking in the midst of a compassionate army - makes the army feel stronger, and less alone in the battle
BUT: walking through sleepy or vibrant communities generates curiosity and curiosity often breeds awareness and awareness results in more people understanding that EARLY DETECTION SAVES LIVES, which also raises awareness of the need for regularly performing BSE 's (Breast Self-Exams) , which create people who want to DO something because either THEY have breast cancer, or someone they adore does - which converts a previously- complacent-lalalala lady walking into the neighborhood drug store into someone who wants to DO SOMETHING, to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the world, which turns them into active warriors to fight in this army, raise vital funds for investment in research that we believe will one day SOON - not only find THE CURE, but will find the CAUSE of cancer - breast cancer - all cancers.
Until no one has to ask what all the pink people are walking for...
Until no one has to say "walkin' ain't gonna cure breast cancer"... for the only reason that BREAST CANCER WILL NO LONGER EXIST IN THE PRESENT BUT WILL ONLY BE FOUND IN A HISTORY BOOK - until THAT TIME...
...we walk
... in pink.
(can't wait to get rid of all the stinking pink in my closet... can't wait until pink is just a COLOR)
I came across this while I was doing some research to double check facts on a post I'm writing for my blog. Ironically my post is anti the whole pink culture concerning breast cancer. How it is no longer a tool of awareness but instead a trend. As a 27 year old living with stage IV breast cancer I have to say I agree with the man mostly because this sounds to be taking place at the Komen walk. While Komen is a very popular BC charity it is the most hated among people with advanced BC. The amount they take in compared to what they put back into research is small. They go on and on about how early detection saves lives when numerous reports have come out in the past few years that self breast exams are worthless (the number of times a cancerous cell has to multiply by the time you can detect by hand typically takes 4 years, by that time it has had more then enough time to spread) and even a fair percentage of in-situ cases will spread become metastatic. The amount of commercialism associated with this disease is an insult to anyone who's had it and a slap in the face to those of us dying from it. I really wish more people that wanted to do the whole pink bit would actually look at how much money is being donated and what exactly for when they buy that pink ribbon product. Komen is notorious for finding creative wording to disguise where their money is actually going. I hope in the future as you continue your advocacy efforts and fund raising you will consider instead raising for metavivor or the metastatic breast cancer network. They both give fully towards curative research only which is what we all say we want right? Of course they don't have a lot of merchandise you can wear or a big flashy name...
Posted by: Sarah | January 02, 2012 at 01:40 AM