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One in eight women will get breast cancer. But you know that, right? You walk in the fund-raising walks, you do your self-exams, and you worry about your friends who find a lump or start treatment at an early age. October floods the shelves with cutesy pink ribbons, yogurt lids, and vacuums, and you roll your eyes in private at all the attention given to breast cancer awareness. You're AWARE already, and lament that with all the attention and funding given to breast cancer, there should be a cure by now.
You're right. There should be a cure by now.
Do you know why there's not yet a cure for breast cancer and all the other types of cancer that our friends and family are afflicted with? Different experts could give you a list of reasons: we don't know the cause, we don't know the mechanisms, we haven't identified the genes at the molecular level -- but all of it boils down to one thing in my mind: We need the research.
If you've ever been on my personal site, you've heard me rant about this before. You've heard me plead since my inflammatory breast cancer diagnosis in June 2007. We need the research. We need to understand this beast and how to a) cure it and b) stop it from ever developing in our bodies, our friends' bodies, and our childrens' bodies.
Today, you and I have an opportunity to make a difference -- and it won't cost you a dime. I'm not going to ask you to walk in a walk, raise money, or make phone calls to Congress (although all of those are important and wonderful). Today, I'm going to ask you, my fellow bloggers, to do what you do best -- write.
I'm asking you to write a post on October 1 highlighting the opportunity that we have to make a difference by participating in the research into the causes of breast cancer, the treatments for breast cancer, and the support of survivors.
I'm asking you to write a post asking your readers to do the same thing that I'm about to do, as uncomfortable as it is to ask you, my friends and my community, for a single thing more. Because it's important.
I'm asking you to join the Avon/Love Army of Women fighting breast cancer by signing up for emails about future studies, and participating in easy, online studies or studies in your hometown when something applies to you -- and to blog about your decision, asking your readers to as well.
I did. After I was diagnosed with locally metastatic breast cancer in March 2010, I asked my friends to join the army -- and they did too, in droves. It's easy, it's free, and it makes a difference.
We need the research. Our friends need the research. I need the research, for as happy as I am today to be newly declared CANCER-FREE, I know that my cancer will return and try to kill me again.
More than 330,000 women already belong to the Army of Women's research force -- but their goal is one million women. And we BlogHers can help them get there. Will you join the Avon/Love Army of Women, and take the pledge to write about your decision and the opportunity on October 1?
More About Blogging for the Army of Women
- Take the pledge today! Sign up to blog on October 1
- Don't forget: Make sure YOU sign up to be a part of the Army of Women! Click here to join the Army of Women today
- Invite a friend to join too
- More questions? Contact Hedi at the Army of Women
Susan Niebur writes about the joy of life after cancer at http://toddlerplanet.wordpress.com and http://motherswithcancer.com, where twenty mothers with cancer share their stories every day. She also blogs about her work for NASA at http://womeninplanetaryscience.com.
