Lets draft a letter to Washington

    This is exactly what I've been waiting for. Too many young mothers, wives, and men also, are dying from this disease, and it's about time we spoke up and demand a cure or at least money to those who are researching and feel they are close to a cure. We have run marathons, run Komen races, donated donated donated, but we still have no cure. They keep saying we are close, and then we hear nothing more about it. I am triple negative, and each day I'm living with fear of a recurrance, as I know many other breast cancer survivors are too. We try to lead a normal life, but we can't. We know that our life could change in a minute. Thank you for this forum. I've never posted before, but this gave me the courage to speak up. Bless all of us

bump

I am a political activist.  A letter writing campaign can be quite effective. However, you must have a clear message.  So, ladies, I will volunteer to draft a letter for all to use, if you can give me 3-5 bullet points. What is your message?

• Free mammography for all woman beginning at age 40; age 20 with family history.
• Uniform standards for testing and treatment to by followed by all insurance carriers.
• Job security for family supporters (we already have FMLA)
• demand for a cure (someone noted that, but keep in mind you can not demand a cure, that is a medical issue) demand govt research? demand govt funding for research? govt accountability for overseeing research? scholarship funding for medical research students committed to specific areas of research?

Awareness is wonderful, and I will put myself out there publicly, happy to do it, it is what I was born for.  But, we need a strong statement, several doable points.   You can't just protest and point out issuess, we need ideas for solutions.  What are yours?

Remember the million man march?  how about a million breasts?

*BUMP*

Count me in. I will do what I can to help.

My journal has the line, "how many breaths we take is measured by insurance or wealth."

I would like to see several things:

1) Affordable health care, perhaps a sliding fee scale for those making less than the median income for their city

2) Stage IV should get automatic SSDI approval - even if they are working at the time.   Not working for 6 months is enough to render many people homeless, when no income is coming in.

3) Re-instate Cobra assistance for 2012.

Ladies:  I am unclear about what our real message is supposed to be and I think if we send Washington thousands of letters with all these different concerns, none will be considered.  I thought we were going to direct their attention to the desperate need for healthcare insurance for those with chronic or pre-existing medical problems.  We can't resolve ALL our problems at this time not with the bozos we have in Washington. 

People listen to me.  I just spoke to my DD and she put it all in perspective for me.  She has a chronic disease and said "What good is a Cure, if you don't have healthcare insurance and can go to the doctor who can save your life"  An example.  There is a beautiful young lady who in 2007 was told she was on the verge of going blind due to her diabetic eye problems but the eye specialist knew of a special laser treatment for her eyes which meant she would have to go back and forth for years for expensive treatments to save her vision.  Today is 2011 and although his treatment meant she had to give up a lot of her night vision to be able to see in the day, she has NOT gone blind!  She is still having laser treatments using her COBRA from her former job.  Do you get my point and hers?  What good is a cure if you can't afford it because you don't have insurance?  

Would many of us still be alive if we didn't have the insurance to help pay for the expensive operations, chemo, and radiation treatments we had to have when diagnosed or the expensive ALS we had to take?  Insurance, insurance, insurance!  I think we should focus on getting Washington to come up with a form of medical insurance for ALL people who need it and not put waiting periods on it like that insanity of their PCIP!  I would not be alive today if I had not had the insurance all these years to have the operations which saved my life.  We need to focus on ONE thing, imo and IF we win this battle, we can take on others.  We need a Medicare type affordable insurance for people younger than 65.   I think most Americans would be glad to pay a bit more in taxes to have the assurance of medical coverage.

  We need to focus and decide what is the most important issue to us and then join together and flood Washington with our letters.  Now is the time for others to share their opinions so we can come up with what we want  from our government.  I do hope we do not let this desire burn itself out.

cycle-path:  Thanks for that article.  That dear lady made my point.  I hope we will decide that "insurance" should be the key point of our letters.

I love this idea!!  Also, I might suggest specifying a mail date so we all bombard that their mail room with thousands of letters to be noticed by volume - -  and although I am not fond of pink --- I suggest the pink breast cancer symbol on the envelop as well.  Okay - maybe I'm being tacky....

I think the pink will get their attention.  I'm not much of an activist, but I sure can mail a letter!  Thank you ladies!