HuffPost Canada closed in 2021 and this site is maintained as an online
archive. If you have questions or concerns, please check our
FAQ or contact
support@huffpost.com.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Limit scrolling through your phones before bed, ladies.
She now sees her scars as "entirely positive."
"There’s definitely a mourning of my breasts, but certainly not to any degree of my dreadlocks."
Research has shown women with disabilities and deaf women face multiple barriers to accessing health care, including cancer screening and treatment. In some cases, health care practitioners focus on the disability itself as a health problem, and ignore the overall health of the patient.
Time to think pink!
My soapy hand grazed over the underside of my left breast and there it was. The dreaded lump. And it was big -- just a wee bit smaller than a golf ball. How the hell did I not notice that before? I poked and prodded at it as if that would make it go away. I swallowed my panic. It can't be cancer, I told myself. It's just a cyst. It's fine. I just had a clear mammogram four months earlier for God's sake.
The genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 (aka the breast cancer genes) have made headlines over the past few years with the help of some major celebrities. All of that attention has doubled the number of referrals to cancer genetics in Canadian hospitals such as Sunnybrook.
Hair loss is such a personal thing, yet it's so public when it's yours. Many women hide it because it's a visible reminder of the pain they're in. We are fighting for our lives, so why should something so superficial mean so much? Because our hair makes us feel like ourselves -- strong and pretty and whole -- and when we lose it, we feel weak and vulnerable.
Despite the lovely pink ribbon, toxic ingredients are polluting us. Maybe it's just the cynic in me, but I think it should be common sense that we can't shop our way to a cure -- especially by listening to companies who claim to be supporting us and fighting breast cancer, while selling products that can contribute to causing the very disease.
What do you need to be aware of during breast cancer awareness month (and all year round)? With all the media coverage in October on our cause, young women may feel freaked out, panicking that breast cancer is going to strike at any second. We want young women to keep calm and focus on three easy things you can do to stay on top of your breast health.
