November 2007

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month may be officially over, but the fight certainly is not. This week I learned of someone getting breast cancer at age 29. I know it’s a reality and I know it happens, but each time I hear it, it’s like someone punched me in the gut. A 29 year-old’s toughest decision should be which flavor of jelly to put on her kid’s sandwich today. Or which movie to go see with the new guy she just met on e-harmony. Not which course of treatment she should endure for breast cancer.

Progress is being made, but there is still much work to be done. All of the pink you saw in the stores last month, on the news, and on people’s backs, may not be as visible this month or the rest of the year, but it is just as effective. It is working behind the scenes.

There is power in pink. It brings awareness to a disease that strikes 10,000 women in Pennsylvania each year. It gets people talking. It’s a striking reminder that breast cancer patients and survivors want to be seen and heard.

Someone asked me in an interview this week, “There are lots of different kinds of cancers out there, so why is there so much attention surrounding breast cancer in particular?” The answer is because breast cancer survivors have mobilized, organized and demanded it. They are a powerful force in their communities and in this state. They know how to get things done and they don’t take no for an answer.

I’m proud to work for them.

Heather Hibshman
Executive Director