The big "PINK" Picture

I live in Israel, so the whole "pink October" thing doesn't happen here. That's why I stay out of most discussions on this issue.

The one thing that angers me no end, though, is the recent "save the boobies" thing I've occasionally seen. WTF??????????? I am Stage IV THE HELL WITH SAVE THE BOOBIES!!!!!!! SAVE MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!

Leah

If I can chime in here, I did feel that way in the beginning about the excessive pink.  It was a nasty reminder that I could not get away from in any way, wherever I went.

However, it does help my daughter.  When she sees it in a store, she feels better, thinking that there is something being done to help me.

So, I try (try) not to be personal about it.....since it is something that helps my kid, I try to ride out october and just look the other way.  Do I find it silly, since it doesn't raise much money?  Yeah.  Do I feel we get used as a marketing tool?  Yeah.  Wll I buy the stuff? No.

People give me stuff all the time, or assume that somehow every single woman with BC knows all the others.  It is a special club, but I'm pretty sure no one wanted to join it. 

.....just try to get thru the month.  I am one that coped with humor, so I do get the T shirt, but also understand how some might find this hurtful/not funny.

We are all just getting thru this, as best we can.  I will wear pink, but only because I like the color, I don't associate myself with it.

This year, my opinion is different than it has been - I was still in shock last year since I was just dx'd stage iv. The 'Pink Parade' does raise many things - good and bad:  

- There is no other disease that is afforded an entire month

- There is only 1 day - October 13th - that just last year passed in a bill to be declared 'National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness day

- It is a tremendous marketing tool and does result in a substantial amount of money raising and we have new treatments although still no cure

- Only 1% of all the funds raised is devoted to stage iv breast cancer research

- Companies and others like the NFL only do something during Pink October

- Susan B. Komen works year-round in their fund raising efforts

I could go on but I think the point is that it does raise money and however much or little actual gets to organizations and research foundations, I am thankful to have kinder treatments now that I am stage iv due to the efforts of the Pink.  My personal issue with it is that my first battle with the beast, I got some help during treatment but absolutely nothing was available to me the next morning - still sick and tired and used up and financially rocked - there was not a taxi ride, a meal, a bag of groceries, a dollar, nothing - I worked and made too much money for public assistance and no cancer related agency of any kind had anything to offer me as a single mom who worked.  I was very anti-pink.

Now, at stage iv - I am rather mixed in my feelings - thankful for kinder treatments but outraged that it is made to be all pretty and pink when stage iv breast cancer is anything but pretty and is absolutely not curable.  Not that any breast cancer is pretty but early stages can be erradicated, treated and live cancer free - stage iv is treatment until we die or just say 'enough'. 

I have never donated or run or walked but this year - I did give a donation to a wonderful gal who works so hard all year round for the cause.  I told her to spread it over many events or just use it for one - whatever - with a great big thank you for all she does! 

And dern it, I like the color pink...

2tzus,

Your excellent observation exposes the ugly truth that there are many, many people getting rich with the status quo in cancer. Pink October is thriving, while sisters are dropping dead like matchsticks - sorry to be so graphic, but just think of the many we have lost on this board. 

Pink October is an embarrassment of wealth and pageantry fattened up by the money of the fearful, the suffering and the almost-dead, with very little in the form of deliverables. And 40 years after Nixon declared  War on Cancer, apart from the American Cancer Society, which stands to profit hugely from the polluters that fund it, most people agree that we are nowhere close to winning it. The exception lies in some pediatric cancers.  

So Pink October is, if anything, a rather pathetic celebration of how much awareness there is and how that amounts to nothing in the cure department.

Lowrider, I hear you loud and clear about the lack of practical help from any of the cancer organizations for those of us who are trying to keep financial disaster at bay while going through treatment. This is what I would LIKE to see some of the "biggies" doing for us (please bear with my pipe-dream!):

* Advocate on our behalf for state and/or federal laws saying that uninsured patients (or patients who do have insurance but do not have coverage for cancer treatment OR are in the midst of a 6 to 12 month waiting period for coverage of same) CANNOT be charged more for services, tests, treatments etc than the highest amount that the provider gets from an insurer. In other words if the most that Radiologist Jones gets paid from any plan they participate in, for doing a MUGA scan, is $350, then Dr. Jones cannot charge Mary Smith (who has NO insurance) $950 for doing the same MUGA; Dr Jones could only charge her $350. (FYI, anyone who thinks that the vast majority of radiologists are NOT charging Mary Smith close to $950 right now, is living in a dreamworld!)

Personally I would rather see my above-described hypothetical law say that Dr. Jones would have to charge uninsured patients NO MORE THAN the LOWEST fee they accept for that MUGA -- which is usually the Medicare rate. That would even be better, but even something saying "no more than the highest" would be better than the status quo, which is "Soak the Uninsured For Full Price Unless They're a Documented Charity Case."

*Establish a financial-aid fund for current patients that does not require them to be practically two steps from living in a box on the street in order to qualify for help. Perhaps the patient would only need to prove that they have no coverage via a notarized statement from her provider (surgeon, oncologist, whatever) that they are self-pay. And after someone is in the fund's program, they could send copies proving what they paid out of pocket for cancer-related expenses, and the fund would then send them a check representing a set percentage of that amount. Let's say it was 30%. A patient who negotiated her best self-pay price for her breast ultrasound of $200 could send in the paid bill and the Fund would reimburse her 30%, i.e. $60.

Lest you think the $60 is a piddly amount, I can rattle off a few things that $60 could buy: 

- Three fillups of my gas tank

- A week's worth of groceries

- Half of my monthly electric bill

and so on and so forth.

Ah, but I am only dreaming, I know. Perfect world, and all that.

lindasa: I'm reluctant to comment on the subject of single-payer healthcare here, because I wouldn't want this thread to get derailed into the realm of politics (which it could all too easily do).

Another thing that I would like to see the Pink Elephants (my personal term to describe the big bc organizations like Komen, ACS, and so forth!) do for current patients is to use their marketplace clout to establish "discount card partnerships" with many stores and businesses that we use in everyday life -- from big chains like Target, Walmart, Macys, Home Depot, Lowe's, restaurant chains (including all those that now run those odious Pinktober Promos!),regional supermarket chains, to drugstore chains like CVS, Rite-Aid, major gas companies (Mobil, Sunoco, whatever) etc.... just to name a few of the most obvious candidates.  Cancer patients regardless of income or insurance status could be able to enroll in such a program for a 12-month period upon submission of proof from a healthcare provider that he/she is undergoing cancer treatment,and receive a card entitling them to a percentage discount off all goods and services provided by any of the discount partners. Because as we all know, the everyday financial stress does not magically end *POOF!* the day we walk out of that last chemo treatment, whether it's for 2 months or 3 or 6 or 12. The cardmember could present his/her card along with photo ID and the discount would be applied at the time of purchase.  This sort of thing is already common with Senior Citizen Discounts -- why not a Cancer Patient Discount???? If the cardholder is still undergoing cancer treatment after the expiration of the card's 12-month period, there could be a renewal option upon submission of proof of current treatment.

The businesses that participate in it would be able to deduct amount of the Cancer Card Discounts off their corporate tax returns as a charitable contribution; they would get "consumer perception brownie points" as a "caring company" by being a participant; and the patient would get a break on many everyday expenses that are not covered by insurance (if available) as an allowed medical expense. I don't see that anyone would lose by an idea such as this; if anyone should be able to claim that "we deserve a break today" because of all we go through, it's us cancer patients!

Heck, if there were such a useful discount card program, I might not even care if they made the darn card PINK!  (though I kind of doubt that they'd call it the Pink Elephant Card    ) 

I agree that in generations past, breast cancer was hushed up and/or stigmatized and I agree that it's a good thing that it has been "brought out of the closet" so to speak; but as Suzybelle, 2tzus, and Athena have so aptly put it, it has morphed into an industry that more often than not is more self-serving than otherwise.

I don't think that a complaint of 'discrimination' against a cancer-card idea would hold up, though, because AFAIK not many people complain about existing programs such as AARP and senior-citizen discounts, discounts given to military servicepeople and their families (including such things as the "GI Mortgage"), police, and so forth. And there would be nothing stopping organizations that fund other diseases from establishing their own similar programs -- although when you think about it, I don't think there is any other disease that statistically strikes as many people during their lifetime as cancer does. I think the figure quoted in the recent SU2C fundraising tv event said that it is 1 in every 3 females and 1 in every 2 males? That of course encompasses all types of cancer, not BC alone. But that is a higher percentage of the population than are currently or formerly in the armed forces, for instance.