my Breast Cancer blog

I have not been paying a whole lot of attention, but I am sure pink is starting to pop up everywhere. It is almost October, you know — the time for breast cancer awareness, which really is just code for pushing products in the name of a cure in order to make a few extra bucks. And I don’t mean the dollars that fund breast cancer research (because if you really zero in on the percentage that goes to the cause, you’ll find it’s usually very minimal); I mean the cash that ends up padding the pockets of the people who turn their products pink. (And yes, there are some folks who donate every single cent earned to charity; thank you, folks, for that.) You might think going pink for a month is not a huge deal; heck, you might even buy some ribbon gear because you genuinely like it. No worries. I, myself, have bought into the hype in the past; I’ve even helped push the pink. As the years go on (almost 8 of them), though, I realize that I’m not all that into Pinktober. I am a fan of awareness, however, and that’s why I’m devoted to the 31 days that are right around the corner. But instead of supporting pinkwashing, I’m going raw. During the month of October, I pledge to post every day some sort of

• fact,
• figure,
• feeling, or
• photograph

that is nothing but real. No pink, no puff, no fluff, just straight-up, awareness-raising cancer content. Something like that pile of pills (see right) that helped keep me alive for nearly 2 years.

Real. Raw. October. Join me, won’t you?