Breast Cancer Fundraising

The pink ribbons are everywhere as breast cancer fundraising and awareness are high on every ones' radar screens. A recent poll taken of fears that Americans have revealed that we are more frightened of cancer than of any other single threat to our security, including the struggling economy and terrorism. Excluding skin cell and basal cell cancers, over one million three hundred thousand cases of new malignancies were diagnosed in two thousand and five. This disease with its many forms is squarely in the gun sight of researchers across the globe, making it one of the highest priorities for finding cures needing to be discovered soon. Anyone who has witnessed a terminal patient with any form of malignancy, and followed the patient's often slow and wasting kind of death cannot turn away from a cancer fundraiser without some pause to consider the alternative. The "C" word, as so many people refer to it, is generally more prevalent in older generations. But breast malignancy can hit strike young women in their prime, making it a shockingly evil intruder into so many promising lives, making breast cancer fundraising a three hundred and sixty five day crusade each year.

Following a big old pickup truck with a gun rack and maybe deer antlers mounted on the front grill is not necessarily a sight that would make a person stop and stare or even take notice, but more and more of these macho machines have the pink vinyl ribbon adhered to a tailgate, along with some bumper sticker that may not be appropriate for public viewing. Is it a mother, or an aunt or a wife or girlfriend that caused the rough and tumble driver to put that pink ribbon on the truck for all to see? What is the story in that obvious out of character display? Follow that pickup truck and you might find the driver heading to some cancer fundraiser where hopes are high that the money raised on that day will be enough to push researchers over the top and find the smoking gun cure and end the sorrow and fear of so many. Whether it is breast malignancy research, or another form of malignancy research needing more money, the cancer fundraiser staged at the grass roots level is producing the difference in slowly making the C word a less threatening word for many people.

In the broader scope of the cancer fundraiser arena, The National Health Institute, which is the federal government's arm for cancer research, spent four and three quarters billion dollars on breast, colorectal and lung malignancy research in the year two thousand seven. This research is paid for with tax dollars, but the tens of millions of dollars raised annually by thousands of volunteers, many affiliated with the American Cancer Society, is money that helps push the research further and further along. There are cancer fundraisers for dozens of different forms of the disease, including forms that are extremely responsive to modern medical breakthroughs and many that are illusive in combating. The results in terms of medical breakthroughs speak for themselves. Consider these astounding facts: in two thousand six, overall mortality rates for malignancy patients dropped for the first time since statistics were first kept. In addition, in two thousand seven, the overall five year survival rate of all patients with this disease rose to sixty-six percent! As late as the nineteen fifties, most diagnoses of various forms of these diseases were a death knell for the patient.

So let's say that a person wants to make a difference and decides to volunteer to be a part of the fight against the "Big C." In this case, the choice is made to be a part of breast cancer fundraising. The hero of this story is a young woman who has just lost a mom to this noxious disease, and has decided to organize an event in the small hometown in which she lives to raise one thousand dollars. The woman has set this goal for the first year, hoping to double the amount each year for the next five years. She called to get information from the National Cancer Institute and is given of a number of organizations that specialize in breast malignancy awareness for women, and since the woman's mother was of Asian ethnicity, she chose an association that had a narrow focus for that demographic. She called the office of that organization and checked on things such as fiscal accountability, public records of all management, and accurate media information. Once that was completed, the breast cancer fund raising effort was underway.

The woman had been a part of 5K runs in the past, which always seemed to be a favorite of breast cancer fundraising, but the goal in this case was to harness the energy of the male population of the community that appeared to our hero to be quite unaware of malignancy issues that were associated with women. The thought also was that if the event drew the men, the women would probably come also. The event chairperson organized a committee to assist in the organizational details and in particular making sure there would be financial accountability. Businesses were recruited to support the expenses for advertising, refreshments and the props that were needed. In addition, permission was given to hold the event at the local football field and a competition was set up between the firemen, policemen and paramedics.

Curious about the fundraising event? It was a good old fashioned car smash! Each of the three teams were given the same assortment of tools and told that the first team to completely disassemble their assigned car would win a steak dinner. Tickets were sold to the event, and over fourteen hundred people turned out for an evening to boost breast cancer fundraising in a fairly out of the way town somewhere in the northwest. The firemen won the contest, and they told the crowd that they would take hamburgers instead of steak. Our hero went home that night with almost three thousand dollars raised, and whispered to her mom that next year it would be a school bus smash between teachers and students. "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God?" (Luke 12:6)

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