My first blog inspired by another user's blog

First off, how is everyone's first day of NaNo going? Mine's pretty bad. I don't have a word written. I can't think of a good starting point.

Now onto the real topic of this blog post: cancer awareness.

How many of you have heard of breast cancer? I'm pretty sure all of you have. Now how many of you have heard of melanoma? Probably only a small handful of you.

I read a blog post yesterday by Stag, and they talked about how they only see commercials for like, breast cancer, and a few for testicular cancer. Like, you don't even know how much this topic gets to me.

Breast cancer is widespread because there's millions of dollars poured into its research, there are millions of supporters out there holding fundraisers and participating in marathons, and it's pretty common.

But what about the other cancers? What about the little girl in the hospital receiving chemo for brain cancer? What about the man with testicular cancer who's going to his first surgery? What about the mom with melanoma who has to have 11 pints of blood in less than four months?

Where is the awareness for them?

Why does breast cancer get all of the hype? My mom once told me, before she passed, that she wished she would have been diagnosed with breast cancer. When I asked her why, she said, "Because I have a higher chance of being cured."

Nobody understands how true that statement is. For stage III breast cancer, the survival rate is 72%. The survival rate for stage IIIB melanoma (The stage my mom was diagnosed at)? 59%.

Even that is dodgy, because melanoma mutates and begins to resist chemotherapy.

I just...I don't know. I feel like breast cancer has all of the hype because no one wants to lose their boobs. Don't get me wrong, breast cancer is still terrible, and anyone diagnosed with it or anyone that has friends/family members with it still suffer tremendously, but why does breast cancer always take center stage?

I have never, ever seen a commercial about melanoma, or testicular cancer, or prostate cancer. I don't even see commercials about leukemia or lymphoma, for God's sakes!

Because of the fact that breast cancer is so well-known and funded, there are more treatments available. Do you know how many treatments are available for stage IV melanoma patients? Like, three, and that's including radiation therapy. There are clinical trials, but those aren't official treatments.

I just...Guys, I'm sorry. This is really long, and it's upsetting me because today is two months since my mom died.

But seriously think about it. I bet everyone here knows what month breast cancer awareness month is, but no one knows when testicular cancer or melanoma awareness month is.
November 1st, 2013 at 10:18pm