The bad news is that our awareness is limited to the pretty and pink. We, the awareness “consumers,” are presented images of women as cancer-conquering warriors and fed the same statistics from the likes of the Avon Foundation and Susan G. Komen. We’re told that wearing a pink ribbon raises awareness helps to empower patients, survivors and the unaffected alike.
In the process of racing toward cures and ending the evils of breast cancer, we forget a lot of things. We often forget that breast cancer survivors spend the rest of their lives on medications that desperately attempt to keep them in remission, sometimes to no avail. We’re given stories of young women who have gone on to conceive children after chemotherapy, and forget that many women enter early menopause upon their first treatment or become permanently infertile. We forget that for every woman that receives a breast reconstructive surgery, there’s another woman who is told that reconstruction is no longer an option for her.
We forget because it’s uncomfortable to talk about these things. We want to remember the survivors, the valiant and triumphant, but sometimes at the cost of portraying the reality of breast cancer. It’s hard to talk about post-remission drugs that reduce sexual drive. The fact that mastectomies don’t guarantee that a cancer won’t recur isn’t pretty. And to admit that mammograms don’t always lead to successful diagnosis feels akin to admitting failure.
But these things, uncomfortable though they may be, are still true stories — stories of those who survived and those who didn’t, those who stood proudly in the face of adversity and those who cried themselves to sleep, those who proudly tell their stories of suffering and those who suffer in silence. This is breast cancer, and it’s not always pretty and pink – but it’s true. And we deserve to know about all of it, even the ugly parts.
So as you proudly wear pink, for whatever reason that may be, don’t let it feel empty and obligatory. Learn more than what the pink pamphlets say, and allow every story to be told.
Peyton Shepard is a junior majoring in early childhood development. She is the Print Managing Editor of the Crimson White. Dominique Taylor is a senior majoring in public relations. She is the Community Engagement Manager of the Crimson White. This editorial reflects the views of both writers.
