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By now you should be familiar with the yellow ‘Live Strong’ rubber cancer awareness bracelets. They were popularized by seven-time Tour de France cycling champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. The money from their proceeds goes for cancer research. If he has planning to pitchfork cancer awareness into society’s consciousness, Lance Armstrong has done a really good job. His rubber bracelets are ubiquitous today, an ever present awareness tool for cancer, and a fund-raising tool for cancer research.

Among cancer awareness bracelets, next to Armstrong’s rubber wristbands come the breast cancer awareness bracelets. However, unlike the ‘LiveStrong’ rubber band bracelets, these breast cancer awareness bracelets come in different colors. The most popular color for breast cancer awareness bracelets is pink.

But why pink? There is a story behind it: Charlotte Haley, a 68-year-old woman, began making and distributing peach ribbons in the 1990s with cards that read: “The National Cancer Institute annual budget is $1.8 billion, only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention. Help us wake up our legislators and America by wearing this ribbon.” Haley’s daughter, sister and grandmother had breast cancer. Self magazine wanted to use Haley’s ribbon but she refused saying they were too commercial. The magazine came up with another color then — pink. Focus groups say pink is ’soothing, comforting and healing.’ Soon the pink ribbon became the worldwide symbol for breast cancer, and Charlotte Haley’s peach ribbon was history.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. says that more than 211,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in America in 2005. Of these 43,300 will die. One woman in eight either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In addition, 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die this year.
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Jupiter High School senior Lindsey Martin and two of her fellow DECA club members, Samantha Spiliadis and Jessica Wilson, are getting a taste of the big time Saturday morning.

The trio is joining with Nordstrom in the Gardens Mall to host a fashion show, from 8 to 10 a.m.

Martin, who has been accepted into the fashion merchandising program at Florida State University, said the idea for the came from the three members of DECA wanted to merge fashion with a cause.

“We wanted to do a fashion show, but at the same time to help bring awareness to other teens about breast cancer,” said Martin. “We went to the Gardens Mall because our original idea was to have the fashion show in the center court, but they don’t do that with outside groups. Nordstrom loved the idea, so we are doing it there.”

In October, the three teens held modeling auditions at Jupiter High School, where 40 potential models entered the competition. From that number, they chose 15 girls who have spent that past week trying on the cosmetics and going to Nordstrom to have a clothes fitting. Nordstrom is providing all the fashions for the show.

“We like to reach back to the community and help girls who are trying to build their personalities and help their schools at the same time,” said Rhonda Yasin, manager of the BP department at Nordstrom. “Our BP department, which is the juniors department, carries most of the clothing trends, and this is where the clothes come from that the girls will be modeling on Saturday.” In addition, Craig Martin, Lindsey’s father, who is vice president and general manager of Jupiter Ritz-Carlton, will provide the food and beverages and one of the silent auction baskets. Other businesses have helped as well, providing the red carpet for the runways, and, in the case of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation donated information and brochures regarding the disease to distribute at the fashion show.

The show will take place inside Nordstrom, with access from the Gardens Mall inside entrance on the second floor. It is free.

What: Fashion show, featuring teen and adult misses apparel.

When: From 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2.

Where: Second floor, Nordstrom, entry from the Gardens Mall interior to the store.

Who: Hosted by three Jupiter High School DECA Club members, together with Nordstrom, which is providing the fashions for the 15 JHS models.

Why: To help raise awareness of breast cancer among teens.

By: KIT BRADSHAW

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month - the perfect opportunity and the perfect excuse to promote breast cancer awareness in your workplace.
But to increase awareness you first have to get people’s attention, and one of the best ways to make people stand up and take notice is through planning a memorable and distinct awareness campaign.

First off - decorate. Pink is the color of breast cancer awareness, but it’s not just a matter of ribbons. Start with your own cubicle or office. Infuse a refreshing blush into the earthy oranges of autumn. Whether your style calls for tulle and taffeta, tissue and bows or construction paper and crayons, brighten up your work space with soft shades of pink. And check with your supervisors to see if you can decorate other parts of the office: windows, doorways, the lunchroom or the reception area. The more pink, the better, and encourage your co-workers to decorate too.

The next step is to provide information. Find out if you can set up a breast cancer resource center in the workplace. A desk, a bulletin board, a section of wall - the nature of the space matters less than its visibility and accessibility. Decorate this area too, but more important here is the availability of informative and supportive material. Fill the space with posters and pamphlets. Provide contact details for local breast cancer resources, including support groups and mammography facilities.

You may even want to dedicate the space in honor of a breast cancer survivor, or in memory of someone who has had breast cancer. The company’s intranet is another good location for this kind of recognition or memorial space. You could put up a page where employees can share their stories and experiences, or post messages in honor of breast cancer patients they have known. Your business could even have breast cancer awareness messages printed on its pay stubs or promotional material for the month.

Every great awareness campaign needs an event, so don’t forget to plan something special to catch people’s notice and get them involved. Get a speaker in for a lunch and learn - a breast cancer survivor or activist, or a health care worker from a local cancer treatment center or mammography facility. Plan a pink themed day; make it Hawaiian or beach wear so everyone can dress down for a donation, and cap it off with a rose-colored meal, like a pink potluck lunch.

The basic steps involved in raising breast cancer awareness at your workplace this month may be fairly standard but the creativity lies in details, and there’s no limit where your imagination can take you. Make this month - and this issue - one to remember.

by KRISTEN KELLY

OCTOBER is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What is the message during the month? Breast lumps are very common in women but some of these lumps can be dangerous. In most cases when such lumps are identified, they are removed and examined by the doctor to determine whether they are cancerous or not.

When found cancerous the immediate advise is to undergo the treatment
A diagnosis of cancer often elicits feelings of shock, fear and despair. This is not surprising because cancer is one of the killer diseases.

In Uganda, it is estimated that 85 percent of the breast cancer patients die within two-three years after the treatment. So being diagnosed with breast cancer is assumed to be synonymous with a death sentence. This attitude is partly due to low levels of awareness about cancer in general, and breast cancer in particular, which results in late reporting to health workers. These scary statistics do in turn contribute to the fear and despair exhibited by the patients, their families and friends.

For example, in Uganda one of the most commonly used methods of treating breast cancer is mastectomy (cutting off the affected breasts), which is usually followed by radiotherapy (burning of the cancer area with X-ray) and chemotherapy (treating using anti-cancer drugs). Like any treatment, there are side effects. In the case of chemotherapy, there is often the loss of hair, discolouring of the nails and sometimes loss of appetite and vomiting. These conditions disappear after treatment.

However, because of low levels of awareness, many newly diagnosed patients lose time before accepting to undertake treatment. The notion of having one breast or none makes patients go from one doctor to another in search of another opinion. If the second opinion is the same, it may be accepted at a price; the cancer may have spread to other parts of the body and difficult to stop.

The social environment can be equally scary. Some friends and relatives do not help the situation. They advise the patient not to have mastectomy and instead take them to herbalists, prayer groups and sometimes witch doctors. They tell married patients that their husbands will desert them. The unmarried ones are told that no man will marry them if they undergo mastectomy. Some clan leaders advise that such treatment will spell a curse on the clan such that their girls and boys will have difficulty finding suitors. They will be considered as outcasts.

The above fears and stigma are understandable in our circumstances where, in addition to low levels of awareness, the health system is not adequately equipped to handle breast cancer. For example, the few available facilities such as mammography machines, a functional radiotherapy centre and chemotherapy centre are all based in Kampala. In addition, cancer is not a priority like HIV/AIDs and malaria. These inadequacies therefore require women to be vigilant and play their part so as to help in reducing the incidence of death due to breast cancer.

Let all women be watchful over their breasts and do routine breast self examination every month. Get to know the size, shape and feel of your breasts. In that way any unusual lumps can be felt. In addition, let women take interest in seeking information related to the health of breasts. For example, women above 40 years of age should have a mammography every year. A mammography is an X-ray that can detect breast cancer before the lump is even obvious. It is currently the best way of detecting breast cancer.

Friends and relatives should give support to their loved ones who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Encourage them to undergo treatment. Mastectomy and other modes do not deter one from conceiving and having a baby after. Remember that early detection and treatment improves your chances of living longer and resuming your usual activities.

The UK’s Cancer Research All Join Together Campaign will sell pink and white rubber ducks for breast cancer awareness month. The rubber duck will raise funds and also come with information on being breast aware.

Hillary Clinton Asks for Help and Featured Questions Re-cap Relocates
Last week, the team decided to move the weekly featured questions re-caps from Fridays to Mondays because “Mondays seem less likely to have something come up at the last minute.” We should know better than to make sweeping claims like these.

Now it’s Monday morning, and we just received verification that Senator Hillary Clinton is asking the Answers community for help to find ways to “prevent and someday eradicate breast cancer.” What better way to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Many lives have been affected by breast cancer, so it will be interesting to see what the community comes up with for this one.

Featured Questions Re-Cap

I’ve always wondered whether there are individual sign language alphabets for each of the languages spoken around the world. It seems logical to have one universal sign language, but it’s much more complicated than that. This best answer from millowner87’s explains why.

New mothers understandably have a lot of questions and concerns regarding their bundles of joy. The desire to do things “the right way” often combines with the worry of doing harm. Katbeek asked about baby swaddling and whether or not there are any dangers in continuing to swaddle past a certain age. BabyRN’s best answer will hopefully help put some new mommy fears to bed.

Tazzy G’s question about the system used to create airline flight numbers falls into my “Now that you mention it, I’ve always wondered about that” category. Have you ever wondered about this? The question is still in voting, so take a look and cast your vote for best answer.

I spill things…a lot. So, any question dealing with stain removal interests me. I’ve never had to clean coffee stains from a mattress, but chances are I eventually will, so I’m filing IB M’s best answer away for future reference.

Were there any questions and answers that you found helpful last week? Did you find any answers that you couldn’t find elsewhere? Feel free to share them by posting a URL in your comment below.

Mario