A Rainbow of Awareness for Breast Cancer

A couple days ago I witnessed, and was a part of, a new on-line marketing phenomena.  For those who have not yet heard, a message was sent on facebook stating:

"Something fun is going on…. just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of breast cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before people wonder why all the girls have a color in their status… Haha ."

This message was sent to many women from their friends, with the request of sending it on to all of their female friends.  As far as I am aware, there was no fundraising effort attached to this campain; it was just a fun, fast and free way to spread awareness of breast cancer...a message that needs to be spread.

For example:

A woman has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  She is terrified and feels alone.  Within a couple of short hours she gets to see a literary rainbow of support pouring in from women around the world!  She sees that there are women everywhere standing beside her saying in one united voice; "you are not alone and together we will beat this"!

Unfortunately, I have since seen some status updates making fun of this outpouring of community. Comments such as "everyone on facebook actually thinks they can cure cancer by talking about lingerie", frustrate me to no end with how much they miss the true value that can be found in this simple message of awareness.

It amazes me the tool on-line communities, such as facebook and twitter, have become for spreading messages of love and support.  It makes me proud to have been involved in a 'marketing phenomena' that may have triggered thousands of women to:

• become more diligent about doing, or have started doing, breast self-examinations (follow this link to learn how, or check with your doctor),
• learn about cancer prevention (talk to your yoga instructor about poses that stimulate your lymphatic system and help prevent breast cancer),
• find community support (for those battling cancer, cancer survivors and their caregivers/family), and
• spread the importance of breast cancer awareness.

How powerful to know that one word in a status update actually can save someones' life!

Some Facts:

According to the Canadian Cancer Society and their 2009 statistics:

• 40% of Canadian women will develop some form of cancer within their lifetime
• Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer).
• On average, 437 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every week.
• In one year, an estimated 22,700 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,400 will die from it.

By the way...white.