We have colored ribbons for everything these days, red for Aids, yellow for Home coming,
and red, white and blue to show your patriotism, I could go on forever but I won’t.
The ribbon I want it talk about now is ‘pink’, and how one very brave woman chose to untie that pink ribbon and give us a peek inside.
This is what a ‘bilateral mastectomy’ looks like (both breasts removed).
She also spent many months going through ‘Chemotherapy’ and ‘Radiation’.
Sickened and weakened she watched her hair fall out in big awkward clumps (treatment isn’t for wimps).
Cancer casts a long shadow; it attaches itself to you for the rest of your life.
When the doctors tell you ‘you are cancer free’, these words should be followed by ‘for now’. Each bump or sore spot, (it doesn’t take much) sends you reeling into a blind panic.
I took the photograph of her. I wanted everything in the photograph to look and feel raw, the lighting, the way she stood, what she wore etc. She fought a life and death battle. She displayed those scars with dignity and grace.
There is nothing beautiful or graceful about cancer and I wanted my photograph to reflect that.
In some ways she reminded me of a holocaust survivor.
My friend’s wish is by giving of her self she may help others, and I believe she has, convincing one woman to “scheduled my mammogram today”
I hope others follow her lead.
As for myself, next time you see a cute little pink ribbon, I hope you think of her photograph and remember the reality.
Over 215,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.
One person is diagnosed with breast cancer every 3 minutes.
One person dies of breast cancer every 14 minutes.
People over the age of 50 accounts for 75% of breast cancer cases.
There is over a 96% five-year survival rate when breast cancer is caught before it spreads to other parts of the body.
(American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2004.) |
