Today is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day. The WHOLE month of November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
We are now halfway through the month of November, PanCan Awareness Month, and I have yet to see (other than on my pancreatic cancer support pages) ANY purple ribbons. Not one awareness sign in any of the stores, not one commercial on TV, no fund raisers, nothing, anywhere, promoting pancreatic cancer awareness. And I must admit, up until this last year, I was unaware of the total lack of any type of promotions, fund raising attempts, or even any type of awareness campaigns for any other type of cancer besides the almighty pink breast cancer. This is where I am torn and feel a bit guilty for being angry about it all, being a 2x breast cancer survivor and a now a new pancreatic cancer fighter. Please know I am so very grateful for all of the awareness (which leads to funding for a cure) for breast cancer, but cannot help but be angry that none of the other cancers get any attention at all. Pancreatic cancer is one of those cancers that STILL has no cure and very few treatment options even! Why isn't the attention being shifted from Pinktober to Purplevember. We need a cure, or at the very least some viable life extending treatment options!
Think about it yourselves.... The whole month of October you were inundated with pink everything everywhere! Believe me, I am very aware of how massive it is because, to be honest, at times, it's too much for me. For 31 days every year there is a constant reminder of the hell I have endured. For 31 days a fund raiser or awareness event popped up on my Facebook calendar. You couldn't walk into a store or watch TV without it being thrown in your face. And then November 1st, BAM, nothing. Not even pink. Which on some level this even pisses me off. Breast cancer is a 24/7, 12 month disease, yet it seems like some type of weird ass celebration for one month in October and then everyone just forgets about it as well, and pink goes back to being just another color. But at least it gets the 31 day fund raising and awareness campaigns, which has pushed breast cancer to one of the highest funded cancers. This makes it more accessible to funds to find a cure, while all of the other colors are left behind. Without awareness, funding and money to find a cure has less of a chance, obviously, because us purple people are still waiting!
There is a pretty decent theory regarding the reason behind the lack of a huge purple push in November. Very sadly the average pancreatic cancer patient only lives 6 months after diagnosis, and rarely more than a year. Therefore, there are not enough survivors that are around long enough to even begin any type of movement for awareness events in November. I am a unicorn and I pray like crazy every single day to keep my unicorn status! And since I have, so far, surpassed the odds thrown at me, I'm going to make a little noise today. I know one person cannot do a lot, but one is better than none, right? I've challenged my Facebook family to wear something purple today and post it up to show support and raise awareness. I hope this will make a small but powerful statement! My wonderful workplace is turning our fountain out in front of our building purple today at my request. Hopefully people will drive by and wonder why the fountain is purple and maybe google it. A little bit more awareness! I hope to be around for a long time to shake things up, to start a purple movement like the pink one. Our purple community needs a CURE! I'm sure Pinktober started with just a small movement as well and well, look what it has turned into.
I also hope that through awareness movements people stop and check into the organizations they are donating to (no matter what color). Make sure the money is going directly back to the cause and not into big corporations who already have huge pockets. The corporations that, during October, profit greatly on generous people who think if they buy something with a pink ribbon on it, it's going to help us. But in reality they are just using your sympathies to make more money. When donating to a cause, please try to donate local, where you know the money is going back into the community you live in to help actual patients. Again, before my diagnosis, I had no clue as to where my money went when I was trying to be generous, only to find out now, sometimes it wasn't helping anyone in need.
Well enough of my soapbox. Hopefully someday there will be no need for any color ribbon!
Update on myself..... My last blood work again went up a couple of points. I don't like this at all, but my doctor told me not to worry unless it trends so far up that it goes out of range again, and then we will worry. So I'm trying not to freak, but if you know my whole story, you know I will always be freakin' the F out! LOL My next scan is set for December 8th. I know I always say this, but this one is another biggie! I just surpassed my one year mark, and per the stats above, you know that is HUGE! Please to all my prayer warriors out there, throw me up some prayers on the 8th of December for a clean, non-changed scan. I have aches and pains and it scares me all the time. Even though I know I just lifted a 30 pound bag of dog food, or walked 5 miles, or something silly that would obviously make your muscles sore. But alas I still freak out and worry. I still take my 5 chemo pills per day and have to admit they seemingly are making me a little more nauseous lately. I know that is a side effect, so I just pop a barf pill and go on with my day. I tell myself to suck it up and be grateful for I am still alive! The world lost a beautiful soul this week who was a huge inspiration to me throughout my journey. This, of course, was a reality check for me and threw me into panic mode. I am so grateful to my four legged park walking buddy and my friends who talked me down off of the cliff and got my mind back to positive thinking!
Thanks ahead to all my prayer warriors. Please keep me on your prayer lists, especially for the 8th! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and families and remember to love every minute, take tons of photos and be thankful for your health!
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