{"id":107,"date":"2009-10-13T12:33:16","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T12:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2009\/10\/a-breast-cancer-awareness-month-plea-from-a-breath-cancer-survivor.html"},"modified":"2009-10-13T12:33:16","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T12:33:16","slug":"a-breast-cancer-awareness-month-plea-from-a-breath-cancer-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/10\/a-breast-cancer-awareness-month-plea-from-a-breath-cancer-survivor.html","title":{"rendered":"A Breast Cancer Awareness Month Plea from a ‘Breath Cancer’ Survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are proud to offer an extensive array of supportive features in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month<\/a>.  But as one of our authors, Lori Hope, points out in this powerful guest post, it can be difficult to be a non-breast-cancer survivor in October because you can easily feel like your disease is carried out to sea on a tide of pink ribbons.  –Holly <\/i><\/p>\n

\"LungCancerAwarenessPin.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It‘<\/span>s
\nchallenging to be a Breath Cancer survivor during Breast Cancer Awareness
\nMonth. What‘<\/span>s Breath
\nCancer? It‘<\/span>s the
\ncancer that attacks the organ behind the breast, the organ we cannot live
\nwithout.
<\/span><\/p>\n

Its proper name is Lung Cancer. But I prefer to call it
\nBreath Cancer, because it literally and permanently takes the breath from a
\njumbo jet-full of people every day.
<\/span><\/p>\n

I bet you‘<\/span>re
\nwondering if I smoked. Did you know that up to 20% of people with Breath Cancer
\nnever smoked, 60% don‘<\/span>t
\ncurrently smoke, and most of us wince at the question?
<\/span><\/p>\n

People don‘<\/span>t
\nask Breast Cancer survivors whether they‘<\/span>re
\noverweight or drank wine (raises the risk), exercised (lowers risk), or got
\nregular mammograms. Is this partly because Breast Cancer is sexualized? As the
\nnew “<\/span>Save the
\nBoobs“<\/span> PSA<\/a> shows,
\nbreasts are beautiful. And the thought of losing them? Terrifying. No blame, no
\nshame to Breast Cancer.
<\/span><\/p>\n

Not so with Breath Cancer. Although it‘<\/span>s usually caused by
\nsmoking —<\/span> which like
\novereating, is a lifestyle choice —<\/span>
\nmost fighting the disease don‘<\/span>t
\nsmoke. But that shouldn‘<\/span>t
\nmatter anyway. Cancer is cancer. I lost one friend to Breast, another to Colon,
\nanother to Breath Cancer. Did one deserve to live more than another?
<\/span><\/p>\n

It‘<\/span>s
\nchallenging to be a Breath Cancer survivor during October because everyone cares so vocally about Breast Cancer. And although Breath Cancer kills twice as many
\nwomen, during Lung Cancer Awareness Month (November), you won‘<\/span>t see invisible ribbons (the non-color of
\nBreath Cancer) used to hawk everything from tissues to tampons.
<\/span><\/p>\n

Stigma has kept Breath Cancer deplorably underfunded. And
\nthat‘<\/span>s why only 15%
\nof us live longer than five years. That‘<\/span>s
\nunfair. So please. Care.
<\/span><\/p>\n

And by the way, yes, I smoked, but quit almost 20 years before my
\ndiagnosis. Regardless, don‘<\/span>t
\nI deserve to live?<\/p>\n

Lori Hope is the author of the top-rated cancer support book, Help
\nMe Live: 20 things people with cancer want you to know<\/a>, and speaks and blogs<\/a> about
\nhow to help people facing cancer and other life challenges. For more
\ninformation, see LoriHope.com<\/a>, or read her
\ninterview with Time,
\n“How to talk to a friend with breast cancer”<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read Lori’s powerful cancer features on Beliefnet:<\/p>\n

How to Keep Hope Alive Through Cancer<\/a><\/p>\n

Wise Words from Cancer Survivors<\/a><\/p>\n

(image via http:\/\/shop.advanceweb.com\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Like what you see? <\/strong>Click here to subscribe<\/strong><\/font><\/a> and get Fresh Living in your in-box every day!<\/strong><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are proud to offer an extensive array of supportive features in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  But as one of our authors, Lori Hope, points out in this powerful guest post, it can be difficult to be a non-breast-cancer survivor in October because you can easily feel like your disease is carried out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,28],"tags":[119,176,177,178,174,175],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-blogger","category-health","tag-breast-cancer-awareness-month","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-awareness","tag-lori-hope","tag-lung-cancer","tag-lung-cancer-awareness-month"],"yoast_head":"\nA Breast Cancer Awareness Month Plea from a 'Breath Cancer' Survivor - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/10\/a-breast-cancer-awareness-month-plea-from-a-breath-cancer-survivor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Breast Cancer Awareness Month Plea from a 'Breath Cancer' Survivor - 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A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Divinity School, she has more than a decade of experience writing about religion and spirituality for Newsweek, The Washington Post, Spa Finder, Sojourners, Search, and many other publications. Her commentaries have also been heard on NPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Things Considered.\" When not at her desk, you can find her baking, in her garden, or rockin' out in water aerobics class. She lives in Arlington, Mass. Visit http:\/\/www.hollyrossi.com for more.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/hrossi"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}