Why are there so much support and donations for breast cancer..?!


Question: Why are there so much support and donations for breast cancer...?
I never hear about liver cancer awareness or anything like that. It's always breast cancer awareness or support. I know it's a good cause because breast cancer is so common, but I think there should be more donations and stuff for other cancers too. Health Question & Answer


Answers:
Well, there's a lot of publicity about breast cancer at the moment because it's October - Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Without a doubt, breast cancer has the highest fund raising and media profile of all cancers, and I can understand why this issue is frustrating for people with other types of cancer and their families. I agree that awareness needs to be raised about other cancers too.and while I hate 'competitive illness' I can see why there is resentment about an imbalance in awareness raising and fund raising.

But ... breast cancer awareness campaigns and BC Awareness Month started as a campaign by ordinary women, many of them with cancer, to raise awareness so that people knew the symptoms, examined themselves regularly, attended their routine mammograms etc. Enthusiastic participation and hard work by women made it grow into something nationally, then internationally, recognised (and then big business cashed in). Any group of people can start such an awareness campaign for any illness.

There are other cancer awareness months, ribbons etc; but no cancer campaign has had the sheer hard work put into it that breast cancer awareness has.

And it's worth noting that all the pink, fluffy publicity around this time of year has negative consequences for breast cancer patients too - I believe that the whole thing is counter-productive, that the marketing and fund-raising hype surrounding breast cancer, by trivialising a deadly disease, is leading people to believe that breast cancer is

a) not very serious, certainly not as serious as many other cancers (many women with breast cancer have been told - by people who don't have it - that it's a 'good' cancer to get)

and

b) curable. (my neighbour said to me 'they've just about got breast cancer licked, haven't they.?' Really.? How come someone dies from breast cancer every 15 minutes in the US.?)

I've even heard it said that it's a

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