#521 The "Unrant" Rant

This is not a rant. Trust me. I've ranted enough to know one when I write one.  This, instead, is a plea.  I would get down on my hands and knees if you could see me because it is that critical.  It is a plea for all noncancerous robust women and men to take up our cause.

I know you are probably as fit as a fiddle and cancer is the last thing on your mind but guess what? It was not on my radar either.  How could this disease creep into my healthy lifestyle when I was too busy running, working out and eating a (mostly) nutritious diet?

Well, my friends, this ugly disease can raise its monstrous head and attack when you least expect it.  That is why I am pleading with you to get on board today to take action with us.  Those of us with metastatic breast cancer number between 150,000 and 250,000 and many are too sick to rally about anything except getting to the next day.  We need your energy and your drive to help us out.

One out of eight women will be newly diagnosed this year and one out of three will metastasize either as de novo (first time breast cancer) or as a recurrence.  I was sitting in the same place you were six years ago helping out friends who were diagnosed and mentally counting the people I knew figuring the one out of eight ratio had been reached.  I was on easy street or so I thought--I was on the "right" side of the statistics.

WRONG!  Easy street just hit a dead end and bingo, here I am getting thumped by the cancer bomb--twice.  Was I interested in advocating for those with breast cancer before the bomb went off in my body?  Of course I did walks and sent donations when needed but to stand up beside women living with this disease and advocating for them?  I will admit it was the furthest thing from my mind.

My request to you is to please help us.  Help us advocate for more research, better health care and larger chunks of money to go directly into finding a cure. Sixty percent of the population knows little to nothing about metastatic breast cancer.  We need more voices spreading the word screaming from sea to sea so legislators and other government officials hear us.

Get involved, ask questions.  Let's stop 113 women and men from dying every single day.  Not to scare the pants off of you but the life you save may be your own.

Here are a few ways to you can get involved:
1. Go to www.onewomanmanylakes.org for information on writing to our legislators about increased     funding for NCI and NIH.
2. Donate to UW Carbone Cancer Center
3. Sponsor a swim (I'll join you) and do your own fundraising
4. Share this site or the One Woman site to your friends.
5. "Like" my One Woman page on Facebook and share
6.  Talk to others about our concerns of being ignored

That's it for now.  Many thanks for the shout out.

Thanks for reading #521 of 7777.