Although it can be interesting to see NFL uniforms, the real meaning behind the flood of pink during October is `its significance as national Breast Cancer Awareness month. The goal of wearing pink in October is to promote awareness and to encourage self–examinations which can catch the cancer during its early stages. The earlier the cancer is found, the higher the possibility that a patient will live.
Math teacher Christine Lindbloom was diagnosed with Stage three Breast Cancer in October of 2012. She discovered a lump during a self–exam.
“I felt the lump so I went to the doctor,” Lindbloom said. “It was on my side and it felt like a pea. I had never felt that before, so I went in the next day. It ended up being cancerous.”
Lindbloom underwent surgery in December and completed several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation in the following months. She has been in remission for nearly two years now, but the cancer still impacts her life regularly.
“Immediately, it changed everything,” Lindbloom said. “I have young children. If something were to happen to me, what would they do? I’m their mom. The hardest part for me is knowing that it could still come back.”
Junior Joseph Faraci’s mother was diagnosed in 2006 and was in remission in 2007. The cancer came back and metastasized. Unfortunately, Faraci’s mother passed away on Feb. 14, 2013.
“It’s important to support Breast Cancer Awareness month because it is not something to be taken lightly,” Faraci said. “If you would have told me that I would have lost my mom at 15, I would have said there was no way. I was a mama’s boy and I loved her so much.”
On Saturday, Oct. 11, Alexian Brothers partnered with Bannerman’s Sports Bar in Bartlett, IL. for the Mary R. Faraci boutique. The proceeds for the event went towards the Cancer Institute at Alexian Brothers. The boutique provides wigs to women with cancer.
“My mom loved to make her hair look nice,” Faraci said. “When she lost her hair and had to get a wig, she felt like she lost her femininity. Many women who she talked with who had cancer couldn’t afford wigs or have the support system that she did. So we [cancer supporters] partnered with Alexian Brothers to provide those wigs to women with cancer.”
According to the American Cancer Society, about one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer during her lifetime. The chance that breast cancer will be responsible for a woman’s death is about one in 36.
“When you are sitting in a waiting room on a Monday morning and it is filled with other people who are waiting for chemo too, I really saw how many people cancer affects,” Lindbloom said.