For my birthday this year (in May) I will be asking friends to give donations for breast cancer research to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation (http://www.ibcresearch.org) & I'm asking my husband +Dave Young for a book from The SCAR Project (he's the one that made me aware of the project/site).
This year I turn 41, and am out of the 'range' for early breast cancer – but I have too many friends affected by it – or friends I have lost. I honestly still have very strong fears that someday I'll be affected too. The photography book they have published is a better representation of what and why we still need to fight and research. There are no pink ribbons on cute coffee mugs here. No teeshirts, pencils, lipgloss or bumper stickers. There are scars. And pain. And tears. And hope. And life. And beauty.
A book filled with fighters that my daughter and I both need to see in order to gain the courage and backbone to keep fighting for them.
From The SCAR Project website:
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in young women ages 15-40. The SCAR Project participants range from ages 18 to 35, and represent this often overlooked group of young women living with breast cancer. They journey from across America – and the world – to be photographed for The SCAR Project. Nearly 100 so far. The youngest being 18 years old.
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There is a survivor in my family, and the scars and the memories seem trivialized by the marketing "awareness" campaigns with all that pink commercial merchandise and feelgood social gatherings.
I am also slightly suspicious about these marketing campaigns as a person who has formerly worked doing IT support in fundraising circles… many times much of the money collected from "research" and "awareness" efforts are pocketed by middlemen and "operating overhead" and never find its way to the cause they purport.
Perhaps this "raw" look sends a better message than the pink marketing fluff that floods the market today. +Lynette Young , please share your impressions once you get a hold of that book. Watching the story unfold for the survivor in my life does indeed hold incredible beauty and spirit from her fight… we are blessed to have her with us today despite the difficult road to recovery.
I congratulate you on your projects …
dear mam nice thought
+Richard Pascual you have read about the Susan Kuomen funding scandal? (not sure if I spelt that right, but I know Lynette posted about it) My sister was 24, still going strong over 40 years later. I have 12 years as a survivor.
Nice
+Diana Studer I read about the recent scandal after you mentioned it. It's difficult when there is an organization between the well-meaning donors and the cause to be supported. The biggest of donors know already what to do in those situations… they usually issue their gifts with specific and strict conditions/restrictions on how their money will be spent. For the smaller folks who don't have billions and billions (or high-powered lawyers) in the pocket, it is disappointing when our hard-earned funding efforts seem "misdirected" or handled in unexpected ways. With the surging strength of the Internet and other non-biased sources of information, perhaps there will be a day where smaller supporters can just write a check to the researcher, support personnel, hospital, etc that is actually doing the work directly with cancer fighters and survivors.