Senior Linh Doan shows her appreciation for Breast Cancer Awareness month by wearing pink and informing others. Photo by Kaitlyn Ngo.By Lindsey Nguyen & Suzane Jlelati, Staff Writers
October, also known as Breast Cancer Awareness month, has begun and organizations all over the world are spreading pink ribbons, the international symbol for breast cancer awareness, and raising funds to support the ongoing search for a cure. Multiple organizations get together and publicize walks, events and more to remind women everywhere to get their annual mammogram.
Organizations and brands raise money for the cause with their pink ribbons, shirts, makeup and everything in between to spread the awareness. One out of eight women in America are diagnosed with breast cancer, and now that October has begun, it is time for women, especially those over the age of 50, to get their check up done.
Although bedazzling your shirt with pink gems may show support for the ladies, it’s not really helping. Each little pink gem doesn’t represent all the lives you saved. Many women cannot afford a mammogram themselves. They usually depend on insurance to cover some of the cost, and some do not have the benefit of insurance to have the test covered or even done. It is really hard to take care of yourself when you can’t really afford it.
A mammogram alone costs $600, but what happens when results come back with a suspicious abnormality? Biopsies will then be required, which cost even more. If the doctor doesn’t clear you, you are faced with the fact that you might have the disease that thousands of people suffer through. This, as you guessed it, costs a lot of money. A period of treatment, three to four months, costs an average of $20,000. Don’t forget the MRIs, X-Rays, additional radiation treatments, hospital stays and surgeries that go alongside the chemotherapy. It adds up.
It’s already scary to fight for your life, but imagine how it would feel when the insurance says they cannot cover the expenses. Should treatment be stopped? Should patients walk away from the pain and suffering they went through with no benefits, even if they have the potential to recover? Should they be allowed to lay in their deathbed because they couldn’t afford to be helped?
The answer is no. No, treatment shouldn’t stop. No, patients shouldn’t walk away. And no, patients should not be allowed to lay in their deathbed when treatment and their cure is waiting for them at the hospital. We shouldn’t allow that to be an option.
Instead of just wearing pink attire and hashtagging, let’s come together and help directly. Instead of just jeweling your shirt, let’s donate. Let’s donate to hospitals, family or friends so they don’t have to worry about treatment costs and focus on fighting for their life. Let’s donate to to the American Cancer Society to find a cure. Let’s find the cure that will relieve thousands now and the thousands that will get it in the future.
If you want to wear your pink bows and splatter your face with pink paint and glitter as you donate your money or your time, then by all means go ahead. Do what makes you happy.
However, October shouldn’t be only known as the month we wear pink, but also the month we all come together to raise as much money to help the women and not the advertisements. October should be the month that we come together and talk to all cancer patients and survivors to remind them that they are strong and an inspiration. They should be reminded that we’ve got their back and that’s the way it should be every October.
