NFL; pink for cancer not breast cancer

amontro

I watch the NFL games with  my SO, and every October players, sideliners and fans have worn some pink for breast cancer awareness.  Yesterday, they wore some pink, but the announcers kept saying it was for cancer - period. 

I am not a fan of pinktober, but how did breast cancer get shuffled under the table this year?  I'm still not sure what cancer awareness they were promoting; it was very vague. 

mrsnjband

It probably went where the preseason went.  Down the tubes.

LuvRVing

I am quite certain that the NFL "pink" is specifically for breast cancer.  The NFL website has a banner that says "A Crucial Catch" (Annual Screening Saves Lives) which is the tag line they are using.  It's part of the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" campaign by the ACS.  The New England Patriots are also wearing a patch with the initials of Myra Kraft, the wife of the Patriots owner, who died of cancer this past summer of ovarian cancer.  This patch is not pink, it is in the Patriots team colors.

I am quite sure that breast cancer hasn't been shuffled under any rug, quite the opposite, really.

Michelle

otter

There seems to be a more "generic" approach to the awareness programs this year.  To tell you the truth, I don't mind sharing the fund-raising and publicity, the month of October, or even the color pink, with other types of cancer.

Of the people I know who have cancer right now, only one of them has breast cancer (besides the women I know from the BCO boards, of course).  One dear relative has multiple myeloma; another has chronic lymphocytic leukemia; a former co-worker has lung cancer with extensive metastases and six months to live but has never smoked a day in her life.  All 3 of my mom's brothers have been dx'd with prostate cancer; one of them had a very aggressive form that required radical surgery and radiation.  His wife was dx'd with cervical cancer last year -- fortunately, it had spread only a short distance toward her uterus, so other than surgical removal of her uterus and a bunch of lymph nodes, she didn't require additional treatment.  My brother-in-law's wife has a form of ovarian cancer that has been fairly slow to progress but has, nevertheless, metastasized, necessitating radical abdominal surgery (removing parts of her colon), radiation, and chemo.  My daughter-in-law's grandmother has metastatic colon cancer and is undergoing chemo right now. 

My dad's very best friend died of pancreatic cancer just 6 weeks after learning it was the reason why he was having such severe abdominal pain.  My husband's favorite uncle died of an especially aggressive form of leukemia 4 years ago -- even MD Anderson couldn't help him.  One of my mother-in-law's best friends died 3 weeks ago of prostate cancer after it recurred and spread to his kidneys.

Among my closest friends from BCO, the mother of one was dx'd with pancreatic cancer last week.  The mother of another was dx'd with colon cancer a month ago.  The husband of one of my other BCO friends has melanoma and is being evaluated this week to see how advanced it is.

Other than the fact that almost everyone on these BCO boards has it, there's nothing unique about breast cancer, as cancer goes -- at least, IMHO.  I guess I'm tired of being singled out as if I have a "special" type of cancer that is somehow more important, more threatening, or deserves more attention, than all other types of cancer.  I think it's just that breast cancer has managed to win the contest for the cancer with the greatest public appeal and that garners the most public sympathy.  I am not sure that's a good thing.

I am really sorry if I've offended anyone with my frank opinion about all this.  I've been thinking about it for a long time.

otter

agada

Otter I am torn by what you said.  Pink is for breast cancer, but other cancer victims need support as well.  I just hope those of us with breast cancer, and those who worked so hard to make people aware of it does not come to nothing for breast cancer.  I don't want to be shuffled  to the bottom of the research list.  This is such a difficult thing to deal with,

Agada

duckyb1

BC will fall by the wayside if BC patients allow it too...........problem is BC is not taken as seriously as other cancers..................proof of this was when people said to me..................Oh be glad its BC....................Your lucky it is only BC.......................At least BC is curable...........Wow, at least you got the "good" cancer.........................

Does any of this sound familiar................I dealt with that through diagnosis, surgery, Rads, and now Femara........................you know why, because we always put on the  "happy face:, we don't talk about our sore breast, sore underarm from node removal, hair loss, burned from Rads, lymphedema, and all the SE's from the AI's that that give us to take to prevent recurrance...............................Oh sorry, I take that back..............................we talk to each other about it, why, because 90% of people who know "absoluely nothing" about BC, think it is a "walk in the park"...........................................sure its not pancreatic, brain, lung, colon, esophageal, or any of the many others, but its f---ing cancer damnit, and its not fun, or a walk in the park, just because its BC...........................

As a side note........my husband died from pancreatic cancer, my mother from colon, and my father from esophageal cancers, so I know cancer..............................I'm done, now I'm gonna go find the Vodka.............................hugs.