Tue 21 Oct 2008
| On Friday, October 17th, National Mammography Day, Cancer Vixen partnered with New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the American Cancer Society and St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan at a press conference, to launch the “No Breast Left Behind” campaign. | ||||
| The “No Breast Left Behind” campaign, will raise awareness of the importance of funding mammograms for uninsured and underinsured women, a group more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer. I designed a limited edition “No Breast Left Behind” t-shirt for sale on the American Cancer Society’s Hope Shop at www.TheHopeShop.org/cancervixen. | ||||
| I gave a t-shirt to Speaker Christine Quinn. (Pictured with me and the tee below.) The rest of you are going to have to cough up 20 bucks - and when you do, you’ll feel great getting it and wearing it. The proceeds will help fund screenings for uninsured and underinsured women in New York City and the Hudson Valley. |
||||
 |
||||
| Speaker Christine Quinn is phenomenal not just because she is the most powerful woman is New York City,number 2 to Mayor Bloomberg’s Number 1, but because Christine has worked hard to make breast cancer a thing of the past. We women in New York City are lucky to have her as our advocate. I was way beyond honored to have her at the press conference. She, like me, is committed to making sure every woman here in the city gets screened for breast cancer whether she has insurance or not. Her mother died of breast cancer when Christine was just sixteen. | ||||
| Also dedicated to eliminating cancer is Frank Driscoll. (He’s with me below.) Frank is Project Manager, Design Guru Deluxe and Chief Envelope Pusher at the American Cancer Society. He asked me to come up with another NO BREAST LEFT BEHIND design, and here it is. My Smother prefers this one, naturally. Both designs are available in s, m, l and come in white, eggplant and in t-shirt and wife beater styles. | ||||
 |
||||
| Here’s some of the products, there are a total of 10 different versions! Check these beauties: | ||||
|
||||
| If you know anything about me, you know this: when I diagnosed with breast cancer, I did not have health insurance. As I was writing Cancer Vixen I found out that 49% of those diagnosed with breast cancer have a greater risk of dying from the disease. Why? Women who do not have health insurance get screened later because they don’t have the the funds for the test and can’t afford treatment. | ||||
| But there’s the good fact: if you DO catch breast cancer early - you can have a 98% survival rate. That is the closest thing we have to a cure. And if you’re too young to get a mammogram, then make sure you get your breast exams and there is NO BREAST LEFT UNTOUCHED*. | ||||
| Speaking of mammograms, it was also the day that the CANCER VIXEN FUNd at St Vincents Catholic Medical Centers sponsored its third annual Free Mammograms on National Mammography Day. It was our biggest and most successful screening EVER. The waiting area was packed with women. PACKED. St Vincents has told me they will be screening women for the next few weeks, and that’s when I can tell you exactly how many women we did. | ||||
| I also had a mammogram that day. | ||||
| In case you’re wondering, I’m all clear. | ||||
| Don’t forget to get your shirt and help a woman in need! www.TheHopeShop.org/cancervixen. | ||||
| Peace, Love and Health Insurance for All! Marisa |
||||
| *NO BREAST LEFT BEHIND and NO BREAST LEFT UNTOUCHED were created by Shafeen Charania. Shafeen has a massive job at Microsoft. His mother died from breast cancer. |
