Fighting breast cancer has been one of my “causes” for sometime now. A co-worker died of it just a few months ago. I actually really liked this one, too. Look over there to the left in my sidebar, and you’ll see a button to click to donate mammograms to indigent women (you just click and the sponsors of The Breast Cancer Site donate the money!)
I just find it frustrating that the best we can do is fight the beast. With the current technologies, the best we can do is identify it early, if we’re lucky, and poison ourselves – and therefore it – or mutilate ourselves by cutting it out of our bodies, if we aren’t. Science can map the human genome – hell, it can isolate the particular gene that makes muscles stop growing – but it can’t figure out what causes cancer and how to prevent it? Apparently not. Yet.
My friend Kelli (a/k/a The Zoo Lady) sent me an e-mail the other day that really grabbed my attention. It read:
The Love/Avon Army of Women offers women the opportunity to partner with the scientists who are conducting research that will end this disease–once and for all.
Breast cancer has been around for decades, but it does not have to be our future. We can be the generation that stops breast cancer once and for all by figuring out what causes this disease and how to prevent it!
Sign up for your sister, mother, daughter, granddaughter, best friend, and the woman you met last week. This is YOUR chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer.
It takes a just a minute to join. But the impact we will have will last a lifetime.
Please Join Me in Being One in a Million!
Join the Army of Women
I thought, “Okay, what’s she involved with now? Another walkathon to raise money for The Cure? A ‘Million Woman March’?” Then I read it again. The part that says: “We can be the generation that stops breast cancer once and for all by figuring out what causes this disease and how to prevent it!”. Wait. Deja vu. So I clicked on the link, and what I read blew me away.
Our revolutionary initiative has two key goals:
- To recruit one million healthy women of every age and ethnicity, including breast cancer survivors and women at high-risk for the disease, to partner with breast cancer researchers and directly participate in the research that will eradicate breast cancer once and for all.
- To challenge the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women.
Not just cure – eradicate. The Avon Foundation For Women has partnered with the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation to recruit one million women all over the U.S. to volunteer for breast cancer research studies. All ages, all ethnicities, whatever you are, however you are. Until now, research has concentrated primarily on “The Cure”. Very little has been done on finding out the whys and hows, or what’s the magic key to prevent it.
The idea is to give breast cancer researchers access to women of all types – especially healthy women – to help answer those questions. No one will ever pressure you to do anything you don’t want to, you only participate in studies you’re comfortable with, your information stays private, and you will be part of the very real possibility of eliminating breast cancer in our lifetimes! Intrigued? So was I. Excited? I am!
Here’s our opportunity to do more than wear pink ribbons – something proactive rather than just reactive. Join the Army of Women. Or at least click on one of the links and read all about it. Then let’s make history together.
Rambling Woods says
Did you tweet this? I don't know how to re-tweet or whatever it is. But I think you should….
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation says
Thank you for signing up to join the Army of Women. We appreciate your support and participation. We are encouraging women of all ethnicities and ages to join, so be sure to spread the word to your friends, neighbors and any women in your life! We can prevent breast cancer, but we need your help. Also, you can visit our blog at http://blog.armyofwomen.org. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ armyofwomen!