It really affected me. Here is a woman who is told she is “too young” to have breast cancer and turns out to be at stage IV. She’s a BRCA gene carrier, but it sounds like she wasn’t tested until later in the process. If she had known her status, would her doctors have taken her more seriously earlier on? It’s just devastating to realize how much education is still needed — especially in the medical community.

This has been a lonely journey. Most people have never heard of the gene mutation and many people are horrified (as I was) at having unnecessary surgery. FORCE was a wonderful resource, but I believe that more people need to know about this. I think a huge publicity event would be a great way to do it.

I belong to the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island and I am a board trustee, which means I can rent this building for an inexpensive rate. The building can hold 300 people. I wonder if there might be a group that might want to join me in this endeavor. Thanks for posting!

Wow, your blog is great- thanks so much for sharing!!! My sister has just entered remission from cancer and I am holding my breath for the next five years for clean scans every time. I ran into your blog because I’ve been increasing my research of breast cancer since my job has decided to partner with a breast cancer prevention organization. Have you ever heard of the Breast Cancer Fund, an organization devoted to exposing and eliminating the environmental causes of breast cancer? Which is amazing, as I don’t know of any other organization working on addressing the root causes of breast cancer. I work for a company called To-Go Ware and we provide non-toxic alternatives to eating on-the-go and support the stance that Breast Cancer Fund takes around removing products that contain toxins from our daily lives (mostly plastics). Just thought you and your readers would like to know that To-Go Ware is running the Together We Can “Beet” Breast Cancer campaign for the month of October, giving 10% of online sales to the Breast Cancer Fund. They are an amazing organization, doing vitally important work to educate folks about the toxins in our environment that are potentially causing breast cancer. I love that my and so many other companies are stepping up and supporting breast cancer research, prevention and survivors! And not just with kitchy, pink gear that is available only during the month of October, but things you can use every single day to increase the chance we have of avoiding all of these toxins in the first place. Let me know if you want more info for your readers. Have a lovely day today and continued great celebration of the strides made toward prevention and a cure for the remainder of this month!