Susan G. Komen has got me blogging!!!

I haven't posted in quite awhile.  Honestly, I have sat down many times to put up my story regarding domestic violence...and each time I hit an emotional wall.  Life has also been filled with "life events" since October.  My father in-law passed away the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  We just lost Erick's Uncle Melvin last Sunday, exactly 2 months after losing his dad.  Cayla is in the midst of her first Girl Scout cookie season and Erick and I both got promotions at work.  I have not had much time to write.  Even my facebook ranting has suffered.  However, this whole frenzy over the Komen Foundation cutting funding to Planned Parenthood has got me back on here.

For any of you not familiar with the story here are three articles that get you from point A to point B media wise.

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/31/146160911/susan-g-komen-halts-grants-to-planned-parenthood

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/susan-g-komen_n_1247262.html

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-03/komen-reverses-decision-on-funding-planned-parenthood.html

I am going to start my rant about this ordeal from the perspective of a cancer survivor.  The Susan G. Komen foundation and the American Cancer Society are two of the largest income grossing non-profit organizations in the country.  They operate like major corporations and spend more on high end salaries than most for profit businesses.  The SGK has tried to basically monopolize the breast cancer charity circuit and sues other organizations that try to use "the cure".  They act like they own breast cancer.  They act like that little pink ribbon is the fucking cure.  I realize this sounds harsh but that is how I feel.  When I was going through treatment for a type of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma I felt put out by the overwhelming amount of pink that was shoved down my throat and was desperate for an organization that spoke to me personally.  I tried the American Cancer Society...but was just as put out.  ACS does not really promote any type of cancer prevention that doesn't line their pockets.  ACS is all about that money for research for people that have cancer but they sure don't want to promote prevention.  Here is an old article regarding where ACS stood in the nineties.  Not much has changed since then.

http://www.preventcancer.com/losing/acs/wealthiest_links.htm

OK...back to the subject at hand.  I had to do my own research when I was sick to find out that Lime Green is the color ribbon that supports lymphoma and then I discovered that there are different color ribbons for almost any cancer you can list, social causes, and other illnesses.  I also found that the best support comes right from local support groups and organizations usually associated directly with your local oncologist or cancer center.  I am glad that the ugliness of the Komen Foundation reared it's head for all to see.  I am always happy to promote others to look for the local organizations to donate too or volunteer for.

Now here is my take on the situation regarding pulling funding for planned parenthood.  What a crock!!!  It was very transparent that the anti-choice movement pushed their way into this.  Religion and politics have nothing to do with breast cancer.  Yet funding for planned parenthood has everything to do with early detection and women's health.  All the anti-choicer's out there that seem to think that all planned parenthood does is perform abortions need to pull their head out of their ass.  Perhaps they were all wealthy enough to have insurance or comprehensive medical coverage, or perhaps they were so sheltered that they think anyone can just stroll right into a private ob-gyn and be seen.  The majority of women that go to PP clinics go for...wait for it...annual paps and well woman check ups. Oh and they don't have to have insurance, but you know what the other amazing part is...it won't cost them an entire week's or month's wage to be seen.  Oh and they offer many types of birth control.  Hmmmmm...let's see what else do they do...well they help with early detection of breast, ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancer...imagine that!!!!  I went to a planned parenthood clinic in Tucson for years.  I was grateful for every service they provided me...which one year included a colposcopy (it is funny that blogger doesn't recognize this word...even in the cyber world women's health issues are a mystery) when I had two abnormal paps.  And just like at a real doctor's office I went in for my annual and had abnormal results.  They had me come back 4 months later for another pap and I still had abnormal results and so they did the biopsy.  That time I was lucky and it was not cancer.  A few years later after my daughter was born and when I had health insurance I went through the same thing with my ob-gyn and he followed the same procedure and he was also able to contact my clinic in Tucson and get all my records.  And not once during all the time that I went to planned parenthood did I ever have an abortion...in fact out of the 4 planned parenthood clinics in Tucson at that time only one provided that service.  There are now only 2 clinics in Tucson, which is sad because the population is much higher now and the economy is even worse.  So many women are going without needed services.  My point is that I went to Planned Parenthood and got the same medical care that I got at my private ob-gyn.

I will always support Planned Parenthood.  I will always stand by an organization that promotes women's health and women's issues.  I will not support an organization that denounces other charitable organizations, abuses their non-profit status, and allows their policies to be dictated by hypocrites.  The Komen Foundation has lost all credibility.  If you are going to allow yourselves to be puppeted into an action like pulling funding from Planned Parenthood, at least stand up for your decision.  Instead, as soon as they realize they are going to loose a grip of cash, they reverse their decision.  This is not recess on the 3rd grade playground.  There are no tag backs or do overs.  They basically stood up and denounced Planned Parenthood and said we can no longer associate with them and 48 hours later they take it back.  I would have had more respect for them if they had stood by the crazy right wing nut bag decision.  The message that the Komen Foundation sent out is that they can be swayed by a right wing nut bag and then swayed back by the impending loss of money.  At no point in time in this debacle have they stood up and taken a stand for women's health.  How can anyone trust them with their money at this point!!

I want to acknowledge that I have never been a Susan G. Komen Foundation fan, but I have friends that were supporters and donated up until this situation.  My original dislike was based on their biased support of only breast cancer that dominated the public eye.  There are hundreds of types of cancers and unfortunately not many of them get any publicity.  All cancer patients, survivors, and victims deserve to be acknowledged and supported. There are over 35 different types of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma's alone.  My father died of lung cancer 8 months after I was declared cancer free.  When he was diagnosed, I had already gone through two years of treatment and was still just learning about lymphomas.  Then I learned there are different types of lung cancer.  I participated in ACS's Relay for Life the year before my dad passed and then I started learning more about that organization that turned me off.  Then my dad died and all the emotions I had associated with being a "survivor" meant nothing to me, because my dad was not a survivor.  Surviving cancer does not mean as much when you beat it but your dad doesn't.  I am grateful for my treatment, my life, and all that I have been blessed with, but I rarely bring up being a cancer survivor because it is one of the most bitter sweet experiences in my life.  Basically, I am saying that what the Komen Foundation did infuriated me enough to write about a period in my life that I do not enjoy discussing.   And for those that know me...I am a pretty open and upfront about everything in my life...except this.