Why I’m Not a Banana

It’s back: the annual Facebook Breast Cancer Awareness drive. I have no earthly idea by whom or why this one was started, and it ranks pretty high the “Seriously?” scale.

Let me try to explain it: the idea is that during the designated time frame (now) you put a coded status update on your Facebook that, oddly, reflects your relationship as a piece of fruit. If you’re married, you post “banana.” Oh, and we’re not supposed to “tell the boys” so really this is a middle school-esque game which makes no mention of cancer. If someone would care to explain how this is breast cancer awareness per se, or how everyone else is supposed to know that it’s about breast cancer, please chime in!

But let’s suppose, for the moment that it did make sense…one still has to ask why…?

I know the standard answers.

It makes people aware of breast cancer. Ummmm…I’m pretty sure hermits don’t have Facebook. Or get mammograms. Seriously, everyone is aware of breast cancer.

It’s something everyone can do. Yes, like jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, as our mothers would point out, but that doesn’t mean we should do it. If you want to do something pick up groceries or do a load of laundry for someone in treatment, bring a movie over and keep her company while she is recovering from surgery, or offer to drive her to radiation since she has to go daily. Don’t know a survivor? Volunteer to answer phones at a cancer support center…you’ll meet lots of survivors!

It’s just fun. It is? Really? Compared to what exactly? And by the way, why are we still linking breast cancer and fun?

Despite today’s ever-rising prevalence rates, I’m pretty confident that most of the people playing the game haven’t a clue how un-fun breast cancer is.

• It is not fun to be scared for your life.
• It is not fun to wake up at three in the morning and toss and turn, wondering who will raise your children if you die.
• It is not fun to watch the chemo drip into your veins, knowing that it is among the most toxic substances we have.
• It is not fun to wake up at five in the morning, drive to the hospital, endure hours of surgery and wake up mutilated or amputated.
• It is not fun when your skin, or worse your insides, are burned by radiation…and you’re told to keep going.
• It is not fun when you can’t be held by your loved ones for fear that you’ll end up with an infection.
• It is not fun to be told you have cancer cells in your lymph nodes…which means they could be anywhere and you will have to wonder until they show up again.
• It is not fun to take medications that muddle your mind, upset your stomach, kill your sex drive, utterly exhaust you, send you into depression, cause you pain or otherwise drive you mad.

Anyone who has lived with breast cancer could go on and on, but you get the point. For God’s sake we have got to stop making breast cancer fun, cute or a joke. Seriously!