If your Facebook timeline is anything like mine, it’s tickled pink.
Everything from fun and inspiring photos of friends supporting cancer research through 5Ks to organizations decked in pink attire for the cause. Last week I saw a pink-ribbon pumpkin carving. Even the NFL is on board; it’s not every Sunday during the season that you see football players hit the field wearing powder-pink gloves.
This Sunday, the congregation at my church, Cascade United Methodist in Atlanta, has been asked to wear pink for October breast cancer awareness month. As the pastor made the appeal last week, I got to thinking that I hope people do more than that. Just wearing pink or putting the pink ribbon magnet on your vehicle is not enough. And I hope people are as passionate and well-involved and informed about other forms of cancer as they are breast cancer. And, furthermore, I hope the awareness extends beyond October.
Wearing pink is a nice gesture but the true difference comes through tangible actions such as donations of time and money, or being a part of the support system for someone impacted by the disease.
But I’m not here to tell you how to support the cause or what groups to support; I just want to continue to encourage and inspire action the way The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has through its storytelling. I also want to encourage educated awareness. There are so many organizations collecting dollars for cancer research efforts that it can be hard to discern where your giving will have the greatest impact, if at all.
I don’t know a family that hasn’t been touched in some way by the often-harsh realities of cancer.
Throughout the year, the AJC has told the stories of those impacted by the disease. A story that I’ll never forget and a popular one with our audience was written last year about Donna Woods, a 45-year-old widowed mother of six, who battled metastatic breast cancer for five years before her death. Former AJC reporter Virginia Lynne Anderson introduced us to this valiant cancer patient who lived a life of poverty, but who was rich in love.
Even though the story was published a year ago, I wanted to share it because of its impact. It got people to act. One of Donna’s daughters began caring for her younger brothers to keep the family together. After we published the story, many people generously asked “what can I do to help?” The family had so many needs – food, clothes, a reliable car, grief counseling. Nearly $22,000 was raised. The people who gave didn’t just wear pink, they took action.
Earlier this month, AJC reporter Helena Oliviero, who has written several stories on cancer survivors, wrote about local professional photographer Jennifer Keenan Giliberto who focused her lens on a couple’s cancer journey. Giliberto, 40, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2007 and underwent surgery a year later. Giliberto took action; her photo documentary featuring 205 images is in an ongoing project at Emory University Hospital Midtown.
The AJC also has a responsibility to keep our audience informed on cancer-related news. This week, we explained the American Cancer Society’s new breast cancer screening guidelines. The guidelines were revised on mammograms, suggesting that women be screened later and, at some point, not as often. In her story this week AJC reporter Shelia Poole talked to Cobb County mother Melissa Miller about the new guidelines.
Miller, who underwent chemotherapy, surgery and radiation after being diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer at age 38, told Shelia that she worries that other women will not get screened. “If it’s not recommended, they won’t do it. We know too many people are getting cancer. Why would you want to wait?”
You can search these AJC stories and other stories related to cancer on our premium website www.myajc.com.
Personally, cancer has touched members of my immediate family. Even here at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, our newsroom family has co-workers, who are friends, actively fighting or who have fought the disease.
The AJC newsroom was touched directly when we learned that one of our data visualization specialists Richard “Ric” Watkins, 44, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Ric is undergoing his second round of chemo and radiation treatment. He had preoperative treatment, but because doctors thought the cancer may have spread to other areas they could not detect, he had to go through a second round of treatment that he’ll complete by the end of the year.
Ric told me he lost both his parents to cancer and had been getting screened every year after turning 35.
He said sharing his personal story has had a powerful impact on his friends and family, many of whom have had or are now scheduled for a colonoscopy.
“For whatever reason [breast cancer] seems to get more attention than other types of cancer,” Ric said. “We just need the awareness for all types of cancer.”
Ric’s message to anyone touched by cancer is to stay positive.
“It’s a tough experience but it’s all mental … so my attitude is to not let cancer run or ruin your life. For some people it takes over, but I know there’s life after cancer. I’m going to do my best to keep living and learning new things. … I just keep looking forward to the day that I can say I’m cancer-free.”
Hearing Ric’s story is another reminder of why action beyond wearing pink is so important.
I think the most poignant thing I’ve seen in my Facebook timeline this month came from my 43-year-old cousin who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. When she was diagnosed it took me some time to come to grips — not that you ever really do — that this young healthy mother and grandmother was facing cancer at her age.
Her Oct. 1 post is something I want to share every time I see pink. She wrote: “As you post your pink ribbons, pictures, etc., I have one request: Please remember that behind every pink ribbon is a real woman, a real man, a real child, a real family which has been impacted by this horrible disease. (All cancer, sickness and disease is horrible.) Pray for them — I mean really pray — encourage them, find out how you can really help them and lastly don’t forget them!”
Her post was a powerful reminder to take action beyond wearing pink. She went on in the post to talk about her support system and about the unfailing love she was surrounded by that allowed her to “continue to focus on the promise and not the process.”
I’ve learned that you can tell someone something time after time, but until you hit them at the right moment they may never actually hear you. So perhaps my timing is right in this place to remind someone to get checked today. In a couple of weeks I’ll be 45 and every year since I turned 35 I’ve had a mammogram.
If getting screened has been nagging at you, I’m here to remind you that this is the time to do it. Early detection is so critical. And if you’ve been wearing pink and calling that action, I’m here to remind you that it’s not enough; there’s more you can do.
Check out photos from Giliberto’s photo documentary at http://specials.myajc.com/cancer-photo-doc/. And continue to follow the AJC’s premium website www.myajc.com for more great stories. If you are a subscriber you already have access to our great content.
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