Behind The Pink Ribbon

Melissa Adams was 31 years old when she was diagnosed with stage 2A invasive ductal carcinoma. Behind the Pink Ribbon takes you through Melissa's breast cancer journey. She shares the details of finding her lump, receiving the diagnosis of breast cancer, the endless doctor's appointment, 11 different surgeries, treatment, and complicating issues that followed. In this tell-all book, Melissa shares her real and raw rollercoaster of emotions related to her diagnosis, the treatments, and the changes to her body. She opens up about having the BRCA2 mutation from a biological father that walked out of her life when she was an infant. Melissa shares her frustration with the lack of resources and becoming a voice and an advocate for young women with breast cancer. She opens up about the lessons she has learned through cancer and how cancer became one of her most important teachers in life. Melissa talks about dating while dealing with cancer. She shares her story of ultimately finding the love of her life, who taught her that true unconditional love exists and in the process taught her how to love herself again. Melissa takes you through her journey of finding herself again, creating her new "normal" after breast cancer, and finding happiness.

"Updated with images and a new introduction on recent controversies"--Cover.

The commercialization of the breast cancer movement is challenged in this analysis of how breast cancer has been transformed from a stigmatized disease and individual tragedy to a market-driven industry of survivorship.

The pink ribbons are everywhere, but how much do you really know about breast cancer? Did you know there are many kinds of breast cancer? Do you know your risks? Do you know how to reduce those risks? If you ever receive this diagnosis, what would you want to know? Beyond the Pink Ribbon is the story of one woman's journey with Stage III Invasive Lobular Carcinoma. In this book, Michele shares all the information she wished she had known before her diagnosis, including translating medical jargon, understanding her treatment options, evaluating the risks that led to the disease, and regaining her lost health. Told through the lens of her own experiences, the book is easily conversational and enlightening.

In 2005, more than one million people participated in the Susan G. Komen Foundation's Race for the Cure, the largest network of 5K runs in the world. Consumers thoughtfully choose products ranging from yogurt to cars, responding to the promise that these purchases will contribute to a cure for the disease. And hundreds of companies and organizations support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, founded by a pharmaceutical company in 1985 and now recognized annually by the president of the United States. What could be wrong with that? In Pink Ribbons, Inc., Samantha King traces how breast cancer has been transformed from a stigmatized disease and individual tragedy to a market-driven industry of survivorship. In an unprecedented outpouring of philanthropy, corporations turn their formidable promotion machines on the curing of the disease while dwarfing public health prevention efforts and stifling the calls for investigation into why and how breast cancer affects such a vast number of people. Here, for the first time, King questions the effectiveness and legitimacy of privately funded efforts to stop the epidemic among American women. Pink Ribbons, Inc. grapples with issues of gender and race in breast cancer campaigns of businesses such as the National Football League; recounts the legislative history behind the breast cancer awareness postage stamp--the first stamp in American history to raise funds for use outside the U.S. Postal Service; and reveals the cultural impact of activity-based fund-raising, such as the Race for the Cure. Throughout, King probes the profound implications of consumer-oriented philanthropy on how patients experience breast cancer, the research of the biomedicalcommunity, and the political and medical institutions that the breast cancer movement seeks to change. Highly revelatory--at times shocking--Pink Ribbons, Inc. challenges the commercialization of the breast cancer movement, its place in U.S. culture, and its influence on ideas of good citizenship, responsible consumption, and generosity. Samantha King is associate professor of physical and health education and women's studies at Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario.

Beyond the Pink Ribbon provides an in-depth view of the author's seven year spiritual journey through breast cancer. Beyond the Pink Ribbon pierces the veil of the breast cancer experience and tells how the author survived Stage IV breast cancer without the traditional treatments of surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. Very much like Job, the author faced and overcame tremendous adversity. Beyond the Pink Ribbon reveals the author's unwavering faith in the promises of God.

Following her diagnosis with an aggressive form of metastatic breast cancer, Norma Woody found herself the bearer of two seemingly unendurable burdens: the knowledge that she was dying, and the realization that too much of the life she had left would be spent in solitude and pain. Yet as the door to her physical life was closing, a window to her inner life was flung open. In her time spent alone wrestling with thoughts and disappointments, Norma found solace in writing, and was able to explore her creative mind and unlock feelings long denied her. In the process, she plumbed new depths of forgiveness, releasing expectations and uncovering within herself a greater childlike wonder for the world and a deeper respect for the God she had always believed in. Impressions Behind the Pink Ribbon is her record of that journey through hardship to peace, and it stands as a gift bestowed in unending faith and love.