I notice there is a bunch more attention given to breast cancer than any other popular cancer. Is it fair there is a breast cancer awareness month and not a testicular cancer awareness month or maybe a rectal cancer awareness month?
Cancer - 6 Answers
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1 :
Breast cancer isn’t more important than other cancers and there is a colon cancer awareness month. There really is no need for one for testicular cancer given how few cases there are and very few deaths from this disease and screening does not change overall survival. I’m not sure what you consider fair and I have never thought of cancer as being popular or not. There is more publicity for breast cancer as everyday women worked hard to get it that way. It is partially due to their hard work that breast cancer is not the death sentence it once was.
2 :
Breast cancer is no more important than other cancers, just a lot of survivors who work hard to maintain a high profile and raise funds and awareness.
3 :
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. Testicular cancer is pretty rare and the death rate from it is not high, so it doesn't really compare to breast cancer, which kills an average of 112 women every day in the US alone (that's one every 15 minutes). But the reason breast cancer has a consistently higher profile than other cancers is simple - sheer hard work. People who campaign around illnesses are usually concerned with the illness that's affected them or their family. I know a couple who have a child with a very rare and life-threatening condition (not a cancer). Much of their time is now taken up with campaigning around this condition - fundraising and agitating for more funding for research, more education, more awareness etc. Individuals don't have unlimited time, and choose their campaigns. Similarly, breast cancer awareness campaigns and Breast Cancer Awareness Month were started by ordinary women, most of them with breast cancer or who had lost family members to breast 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). And while there are other cancer awareness months, days, ribbons etc (here's a list http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MED/content/MED_1_Cancer_Calendar.asp) no cancer awareness campaign has had the sheer hard work put into it that breast cancer awareness has. Any group of people can start an awareness campaign for any illness - but if they want it to be as successful as the breast cancer campaigning, they'll have to be prepared to be as dedicated and work as hard. If testicular and colorectal cancers are causes close to your heart – and good for you if they are – you and a group of friends could start an awareness campaign; that’s where breast cancer awareness started. But you'll have to be prepared to work as hard as those women did. I agree that awareness needs to be raised about other diseases, including other cancers, and while I hate 'competitive illness' I can see why there is resentment about an imbalance in awareness raising and fund raising. But it does sometimes annoy me a little when people complain about the attention breast cancer receives in comparison to other cancers. The solution is not less attention for breast cancer, but more attention for other cancers.
4 :
Yes, I confess - I get a bit narky and jealous sometimes. I'm always getting hit up by cancer fundraisers and I have to hold back from snarling "what percentage is going towards neuroendocrine tumor research?". But it's a fact - I have a no-profile cancer, whereas everyone knows someone who has/is suffering from breast cancer. It sure makes you admire Lance Armstrong and his amazing work at increasing testicular cancer awareness. What a guy. But good luck to the girls - and their husbands, friends, families and the communities who get behind them, raising funds, raising awareness and supporting them in their treatment. The success of the breast cancer awareness campaign helps raise awareness of all cancer sufferers too.
5 :
For many decades, the medical profession and pharmaceutical companies excluded women from medical research because their periods, pregnancies and menopausal life events could change their body chemistry and "mess up" their statistical results and findings. This was done even in studies which were funded by tax monies, paid by men and women. The result was that womens' recovery from illnesses and access to proper treatments lagged severely behind in effectiveness when compared to those for men. Even now, there has been so much less research of heart ailments in women, and development of treatments and early recognition that women are far more likely to die of their first heart attack than men. Breast cancer, ovarian, cervical and uterine cancers are womens' cancers and at the heart of the feminist push for equal funding for their needs. Breast cancer particularly, is a very frequent killer of women, and also the breast is almost a symbol of a whole woman, and the loss of the breast devastating and some feel, disfiguring. So, to answer your question, breast cancer has become a cause celebre because it was neglected as an illness for years, and also because women feel that their issues of cancer and gender were not treated with equity and fairness. It is not more important, but it IS better publicized.
6 :
Seems until one cancer hits you most are unaware of how many helpful agencies are out there. I Own a store, Compassionate Beauty, that caters to women going through the devasting side effects of cancer and I hear all too often about breast cancer and why it is so popular. For a bunch of reasons it has definately soared to the top of the charts, however, when my mom was diagnosed with Lymphoma and I started researching, I was amazed at the following. I immediately signed up for Team in Training and raised money and ran a half marathon. I listed myself on the donor registar and did what I could do to increase awareness. Breast cancer is certainly popular in the media and the many events that are held and sponsored. More important, NO> every cancer is important when it affects you, your family or best friend
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