Wellbeing
November 18, 2010
Here’s a simple, highly accomplishable effort for raising awareness of men’s cancers and health issues.
Chance are you didn’t know that November 21 is our country’s first annual Men’s Health Night. Now you do. Malecare, America’s all-volunteer, men’s cancer patient support group, is making it so. They are asking every home to light a blue bulb this coming Sunday evening, to honor the men they love, those who are living and those who they wish were still with us–sons, boyfriends, dads, uncles, granddads, brothers, friends, partners, husbands. One blue light bulb, one night a year, one evening to show that we care about the men in our lives.
As you know from reading this blog, many prostate cancer advocates are focused on lighting famous monuments or corporate buildings blue as a way to create awareness. Some, well-known to this writer, are even proposing a blue-ification program for the NFL. These efforts are important. But, this year, and from now on, November 21 will give us–we, the people–an opportunity to light a light of awareness, warmth and strength, in our own homes. We all have the power to make a small individual effort that in time can build virally and make a important statement about protecting the health of America’s men. Remember, prostate cancer affects 1 out of 6 American men. Do the math and imagine what would happen if each home that was affected by this disease had a blue bulb or string of blue lights blazing outside their homes this Sunday evening. Questions would be asked and discussions would ensue. The logistics are quite similar to Movember in which many folks ask, “Why on earth are you growing that moustache…?”
If the cost of a few lights and the investment of a few watts of power get one man to think more earnestly about his health and prostate cancer, I’m all for this deceptively simple effort. Drive by my house this Sunday and you’ll see a string of blue lights blazing on my front patio. If ours is the only such house in all of Redondo Beach, that’s okay. Over time, we can all make a difference, one blue bulb at a time.
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October 14, 2010
Ilove pink, but can we have a little equal opportunity awareness time?
I was waiting for this day. Sure enough… it has arrived. The White House is going pink tonight. For a third time. All I want is see a touch of blue. Instead I am seeing red.
Turning the White House pink once again for breast cancer awareness is an excellent show of support, but where was the blue last month for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month? It’s not as if the question wasn’t asked. The nation’s leading prostate cancer organizations and advocates sent letters to The White House asking for equal opportunity awareness time. Even NFL famer Reverend Rosey Grier sent a personal letter to President Obama and our gracious First Lady, Michele Obama. But, the effort fell on deaf ears. We didn’t even receive a polite letter declining our request and wishing us well with the cause.
As this choir already knows, 32,000 American men will die from prostate cancer this year. In incidence and mortality, prostate cancer is to men what breast cancer is to women (and some men), yet support for crucial public awareness lags sadly behind that of breast cancer. America needs its healthy fathers and sons as well as its mothers and daughters. When are we going to receive equal opportunity awareness time?
(Incidentally, as an African-American man, President Obama is 1.6x more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 2.4x more likely to die from it.)
I issued the first request for a Blue Lighting on my cancer blog back in May, shortly after I was diagnosed: http://mynewyorkminute.org/?p=106
Right now, I am feeling a bit stumped here. If you want your voice heard, I suggest you go to ABC News and post a comment to today’s pink lighting story: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/10/the-white-house-turns-p…
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October 5, 2010
It’s October, that time of year that has many seeing pink, if not red.
Five days into October–National Breast Cancer Awareness Month–and already we are getting calls at the office: “Why are the Washington Redskins covered in Pink…?” “Why were the light columns at LAX lit pink and not blue…?” “Why is my plane covered with pink ribbons and not blue…?” And of course, there is my favorite… “Why aren’t you guys more like Komen…?”
The answer to the last question is simple: Because we’re not.
Komen has nearly 300 employees compared to our less than 40. In 2008, they invested approximately 25% of their revenues or nearly $40 million in cancer research compared to our 73% of revenues or $27 million. They have a large base of chapters and thousands more feet on the ground. Their mission and structure are very different from ours. It’s no wonder they can paint our towns and products pink throughout the year and especially in October. Their success has paved the way for other organizations, including Estee Lauder (The Breast Cancer Research Foundation) the ACS and NFL, to catch their draft, build on the pink foundation and expand awareness and research programs further. From many perspectives, it’s an enviable enterprise (except, of course, for promoting buckets of fried chicken for a cure…).
Since 1993, the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s primary mission has been to find cures so we can cure more and over-treat less. Only then will we be successful in ending suffering and death as a result of prostate cancer. Once we achieve our goal, we will also be returning an estimated $3 billion in over-treatment costs to the American economy–a win-win situation if ever I saw one.
I’ve written before about the awareness and support disparity between breast and prostate cancer. Considering that prostate cancer is to men what breast cancer is to women in terms of incidence and death rates, it seems illogical. Yet it remains a persistent and stubborn problem. The Daily Caller, a Washington, D.C.-based 24-hour news site reporting on politics and policy reported on the awareness and funding disparity in today’s news.
Established 11 years earlier than the prostate cancer movement, they have been able to get pink ribbons and lights on the White House a couple of times. When the prostate cancer organizations behind last month’s Advance on Washington asked for some equal time and blue lights, the request, though delivered though several doors, was ignored–not even a polite letter offering support but declining the request. Is it any wonder that government funding for prostate cancer research lags behind that which is allocated for breast cancer?
Marketing expenditures, staff sizes and volunteer ranks aside, I have great admiration for the thousands of individuals who lend their support to breast cancer awareness and research. They have been able to mobilize and focus national attention and funding for breast cancer research quite effectively. As a group, we men in the prostate cancer world could stand to take a lesson or two from their play book.
However, no amount of duplication of tactics will be succesful until many more men stop shutting down and sweeping the problem under the rug. Prostate cancer represents the number one men’s health crisis in America today. By 2015, the number of new cases is expected to rise to more than 300,000 from 218,000 this year. The personal, emotional and economic burdens will also grow.
This disparity is not borne of marketing budgets and staff sizes. It is one of the heart, voice and courage. Breast cancer survivors also carry emotional scars from their diagnosis and treatments. However, until more men stop lamenting the possible side effects of their treatments in private and take action like our sisters in cancer, we will continue to wonder why we are often treated as a public after thought.
---------------------------
Here’s a simple, highly accomplishable effort for raising awareness of men’s cancers and health issues.
Chance are you didn’t know that November 21 is our country’s first annual Men’s Health Night. Now you do. Malecare, America’s all-volunteer, men’s cancer patient support group, is making it so. They are asking every home to light a blue bulb this coming Sunday evening, to honor the men they love, those who are living and those who they wish were still with us–sons, boyfriends, dads, uncles, granddads, brothers, friends, partners, husbands. One blue light bulb, one night a year, one evening to show that we care about the men in our lives.
As you know from reading this blog, many prostate cancer advocates are focused on lighting famous monuments or corporate buildings blue as a way to create awareness. Some, well-known to this writer, are even proposing a blue-ification program for the NFL. These efforts are important. But, this year, and from now on, November 21 will give us–we, the people–an opportunity to light a light of awareness, warmth and strength, in our own homes. We all have the power to make a small individual effort that in time can build virally and make a important statement about protecting the health of America’s men. Remember, prostate cancer affects 1 out of 6 American men. Do the math and imagine what would happen if each home that was affected by this disease had a blue bulb or string of blue lights blazing outside their homes this Sunday evening. Questions would be asked and discussions would ensue. The logistics are quite similar to Movember in which many folks ask, “Why on earth are you growing that moustache…?”
If the cost of a few lights and the investment of a few watts of power get one man to think more earnestly about his health and prostate cancer, I’m all for this deceptively simple effort. Drive by my house this Sunday and you’ll see a string of blue lights blazing on my front patio. If ours is the only such house in all of Redondo Beach, that’s okay. Over time, we can all make a difference, one blue bulb at a time.
---------------------------
October 14, 2010
Ilove pink, but can we have a little equal opportunity awareness time?
I was waiting for this day. Sure enough… it has arrived. The White House is going pink tonight. For a third time. All I want is see a touch of blue. Instead I am seeing red.
Turning the White House pink once again for breast cancer awareness is an excellent show of support, but where was the blue last month for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month? It’s not as if the question wasn’t asked. The nation’s leading prostate cancer organizations and advocates sent letters to The White House asking for equal opportunity awareness time. Even NFL famer Reverend Rosey Grier sent a personal letter to President Obama and our gracious First Lady, Michele Obama. But, the effort fell on deaf ears. We didn’t even receive a polite letter declining our request and wishing us well with the cause.
As this choir already knows, 32,000 American men will die from prostate cancer this year. In incidence and mortality, prostate cancer is to men what breast cancer is to women (and some men), yet support for crucial public awareness lags sadly behind that of breast cancer. America needs its healthy fathers and sons as well as its mothers and daughters. When are we going to receive equal opportunity awareness time?
(Incidentally, as an African-American man, President Obama is 1.6x more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 2.4x more likely to die from it.)
I issued the first request for a Blue Lighting on my cancer blog back in May, shortly after I was diagnosed: http://mynewyorkminute.org/?p=106
Right now, I am feeling a bit stumped here. If you want your voice heard, I suggest you go to ABC News and post a comment to today’s pink lighting story: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/10/the-white-house-turns-p…
---------------------------
October 5, 2010
It’s October, that time of year that has many seeing pink, if not red.
Five days into October–National Breast Cancer Awareness Month–and already we are getting calls at the office: “Why are the Washington Redskins covered in Pink…?” “Why were the light columns at LAX lit pink and not blue…?” “Why is my plane covered with pink ribbons and not blue…?” And of course, there is my favorite… “Why aren’t you guys more like Komen…?”
The answer to the last question is simple: Because we’re not.
Komen has nearly 300 employees compared to our less than 40. In 2008, they invested approximately 25% of their revenues or nearly $40 million in cancer research compared to our 73% of revenues or $27 million. They have a large base of chapters and thousands more feet on the ground. Their mission and structure are very different from ours. It’s no wonder they can paint our towns and products pink throughout the year and especially in October. Their success has paved the way for other organizations, including Estee Lauder (The Breast Cancer Research Foundation) the ACS and NFL, to catch their draft, build on the pink foundation and expand awareness and research programs further. From many perspectives, it’s an enviable enterprise (except, of course, for promoting buckets of fried chicken for a cure…).
Since 1993, the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s primary mission has been to find cures so we can cure more and over-treat less. Only then will we be successful in ending suffering and death as a result of prostate cancer. Once we achieve our goal, we will also be returning an estimated $3 billion in over-treatment costs to the American economy–a win-win situation if ever I saw one.
I’ve written before about the awareness and support disparity between breast and prostate cancer. Considering that prostate cancer is to men what breast cancer is to women in terms of incidence and death rates, it seems illogical. Yet it remains a persistent and stubborn problem. The Daily Caller, a Washington, D.C.-based 24-hour news site reporting on politics and policy reported on the awareness and funding disparity in today’s news.
Established 11 years earlier than the prostate cancer movement, they have been able to get pink ribbons and lights on the White House a couple of times. When the prostate cancer organizations behind last month’s Advance on Washington asked for some equal time and blue lights, the request, though delivered though several doors, was ignored–not even a polite letter offering support but declining the request. Is it any wonder that government funding for prostate cancer research lags behind that which is allocated for breast cancer?
Marketing expenditures, staff sizes and volunteer ranks aside, I have great admiration for the thousands of individuals who lend their support to breast cancer awareness and research. They have been able to mobilize and focus national attention and funding for breast cancer research quite effectively. As a group, we men in the prostate cancer world could stand to take a lesson or two from their play book.
However, no amount of duplication of tactics will be succesful until many more men stop shutting down and sweeping the problem under the rug. Prostate cancer represents the number one men’s health crisis in America today. By 2015, the number of new cases is expected to rise to more than 300,000 from 218,000 this year. The personal, emotional and economic burdens will also grow.
This disparity is not borne of marketing budgets and staff sizes. It is one of the heart, voice and courage. Breast cancer survivors also carry emotional scars from their diagnosis and treatments. However, until more men stop lamenting the possible side effects of their treatments in private and take action like our sisters in cancer, we will continue to wonder why we are often treated as a public after thought.
---------------------------