Pink Saturday - October 1

As is well known, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  For the next 31 days I will be wearing my Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet given to me by my daughter.  I wear it to honor those that I have known who have been affected by this disease.  That leaves the field wide-open for I do not believe that there are many people that I know that have not been affected in one way or another.  Whether it has been dealing with the disease itself or knowing and supporting someone who has, or losing someone to it, it hasn't left many untouched. 

I attended a function a couple of years ago - it was a basket bingo - and during one of the breaks we were given information on Breast Cancer Awareness.  The preface to that was the speaker asking anyone who was a survivor to stand.  More than a handful of women stood up.  Then she asked those who had a family member who had breast cancer to stand up.  The number of standing persons greatly increased.  Then she asked anyone to stand up if they had a friend who had breast cancer.  If there was anyone seated after that you could not tell because the room was a sea of silent standing people.  An eye-opener. 

Over the course of this past year the fear of this disease has touched a few of my friends and myself as well.  All of us have done what we are supposed to do - have our yearly check-ups - and in each case something provoked further investigation in the form of more tests and biopsies.  Thankfully, these all proved to be false alarms and minor, but it was scary just the same. 

You see my little pink flying pig also in the picture - my chosen symbol of perserverance.  May we all perservere in taking care of ourselves and staying informed and when necessary, though some day I hope it will not have to be, to be there and be strong.

Linking to Pink Saturday.