OFF TO THE RACES

Tis the final day of September.  If I may make a suggestion?  Take a good look around you and notice all the color.  Interestingly or oddly coincidental, I saw a rainbow yesterday evening. Rainbows are not common in suburban NYC.  It was a bit ironic.  ROYGBIV.  Saw every one of them.

By the time this weekend draws to a close, the world as we know it will exist in one color and ONLY one color.  I was really never a fan of pink.  A tad too wishy washy for my taste.  I might suggest shifting your eyes to the background color on your screen.  Now, I ask you..... "Does this look like someone who might like pastel pink?"

Here's the thing, though.  MOST of the people who will be painting the world pink don't understand the way the very people they are "honoring" feel about this situation.  MOST of the people don't understand that we've been at this pink game for so damn long and really, have we made a difference?  Yes.  We are aware about getting screened and we are aware that early detection is the best we have right now.

And No.  We haven't made any strides toward prevention.  Nor have we made any headway with metastatic disease.  Someone very dear to me was diagnosed with a Stage I breast cancer.  Surgery and chemotherapy completed, clean lymph nodes, too and yet, at her first annual screening, bone mets were discovered.  The treatment, which was three months of more poison, did not help.  In fact, the mets are now in every single organ where breast cancer likes to take up residence.  Her latest scans?  Now spots on her liver, on her lungs and tonight, I learned they found 6 or 8 "things" in her brain.  In THREE Months.

I am a survivor.  My mom is a 2 time survivor (and an unrelated renal cancer survivor also).  My sister is a survivor.  My friend will be facing a difficult battle.  This is simply unacceptable.

Prevention IS the cure.  Today, I will be visiting a local Panera Bread cafe where they will be kicking off their "pink bagel" campaign on Long Island.  I am proud to say that Long Island has been at the forefront for many, many years in asking the right question.  WHY?  That is where we need to focus. When we can answer that question, we will be able to fix those who are waiting for the research to catch up to them.  And, we will be able to prevent this in future generations.

I will be respectful and I will be appreciative.  But I will also make sure that the voices of all are heard.  I promise.  I do this for my friend, I do this for my daughter and I do this for all of the people who live beyond this computer screen.

I got your back.  I'll do my best.  That's MY promise.  Pound the pavement and make some noise.... I can't cure anything, but noise?  I can certainly do that.  And I most certainly will.  I will be at a Long Island town event on Saturday evening.  And Sunday?  Belmont Racetrack.  The track where Triple Crown dreams are frequently shattered.  It's been over thirty years since a horse was able to reach the pinnacle of success.  Yet, I remember it being no big deal in the 1970's when three horses where able to achieve such greatness.  We've done the same thing with research.  It's at a standstill.  We need to push past this road block.  We can and we will.

Rock on .......  I already said this in a prior entry.  The world can go pink.  I plan to pain the town red.