As the color of pink is once again painted throughout our beautiful Valley, and throughout the world (Have you seen the Eiffle Tower lit up in pink yet?), our Team at Central will be wearing pink again the week of Oct. 18-24, and we will be donating 1 percent of all our service tickets that week to the “Save-a-Sister” campaign. to show our support for the second leading cause of death for women. At the same time we will be asking you all to consider donating as well that week. Here is a bit of history on how this all came together, and as with most things in life, there are a few ways of looking at this topic.
Almost 30 years ago, October became National Breast Cancer Awareness month to promote mammography as the most effective tool to prevent breast cancer. And many would agree, since the 1990s, breast cancer has been declining and attribute early detection as the key to this decline. As I was doing my research for this article, I came across the beginning of this pink revolution. The Susan G. Komen foundation in the fall of 1991 handed out pink ribbons to participants in its New York City race for breast cancer survivors.
Soon to follow, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation was founded and established the pink ribbon as its symbol. Evelyn Lauder, breast cancer survivor, was one of the founders of this foundation. As the senior vice president of Estee Lauder, she was able to use the at company’s brand as a sounding board for this cause. The pink ribbons were distributed in their stores and became the status symbol. Why pink? It really all started because of the red ribbons for AIDS awareness; and breast cancer primarily being a woman’s disease, pink only seemed natural. For most women from the time we are little girls, pink means sweet, and this ribbon has become the symbol of goodwill towards women. Wearing this simple, easy-to-copy pink ribbon says we care about the well-being of all women.
While researching the origin of Breast Cancer Awareness, I also came across an interesting article by Peggy Orenstein, a contributing writer for the New York Times, called “Our feel-good war on breast cancer” — rather interesting and worth the read. Peggy is also a breast cancer survivor. At the age of 35, she was treated with a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation. Although it was the mammogram that detected her early stage of cancer, she now no longer believes that early detection of cancer by mammograms is actually preventing women from dying from cancer. In the late ’90s, just after Ms. Orenstein had her bout with breast cancer treatment, the National Institutes of Health made headlines when suggesting that women really did not need to have mammograms until they entered — what I like to call — “The Fabulous Fifties.” Early detection like in Ms. Orenstein’s case, may never actually develop into a terminal case. Younger women have much denser breast tissue and are subject to several more false positives — leading to unnecessary biopsies and treatments.
Hmmmmmmmmmm…As a woman myself who has been having a mammogram every year since I have turned 40, I consider myself very fortunate to have not had to go through what Ms. Orenstein did. However, if something were detected, I, too, would immediately want to get rid of the possibility, even if it would likely not develop into something more serious. More recently, another study came out in the New England Journal of Medicine, also suggesting similar findings as above. It somewhat reminded me of the story of a woman who asked her Mom, “Why do you always cut off both ends of the roast before you put it in your roasting pan?” The woman said, “that is the way my mother always did it.” So the next time when this woman spoke with her own mother, she asked the same question her daughter had asked her. Her mother smiled and said, “Because my roasting pan was too small to fit the roast into the pan, so I cut the ends off.”
For myself, my personal thoughts on mammograms: Even if I was not in my “Fabulous Fifties,” I choose the opportunity of prevention, and will be interested to find out what the prevailing belief is at the time when my own daughter, who is 20, turns 40.
October 18-24, is a great week to call Central and help support this amazing cause, and as always, your Comfort is our Central concern. Call us for all your heating cooling, plumbing, electrical and drain cleaning needs at 756-6656.
Your comfort is my Central Concern, call 756-6656 for all your heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical and drain cleaning needs!