In Memory Of And To Remember And To Make Aware

 (I am liking the washcloths in the bottom photo - they are pink and grey - green camo for the Pink Ribbon Army cloths the most but I will make pink cloths of all variations because we all have different tastes from one another.  The black cherry is nice too - the dark pink, black and white one on the upper left)

I am making pink camo wash cloths for the Pink Ribbon Army a lot these days to sell.  The proceeds from the sales of the wash cloths and other Pink items I make will go to the Pink Ribbon Army to help Breast Cancer Research.  I am doing this in memory of my mother who passed away from breast cancer on October 27, 2011. 

Mom had the type of breast cancer called IBC or Inflammatory Breast Cancer  that does not show up as a tumor in mammograms.  The radiologist gave us the "all clear" following her mammogram a few years before Mom's death so at the time we thought everything was okay and cheered the good news. 

When Mom's breast became more and more deformed - with no pain existing in the area, I became alarmed and took her back to our family physician who took one look at her breast and sent us off to an oncologist who told us then that Mom had breast cancer.  It was the inflammatory type that is in particles, not tumorous, and spreads rapidly and sneakily because it cannot be seen with a mammogram or ultrasound.

There is a case of a sixteen year old young lady who died of this same type of breast cancer, needlessly, because she was too embarrassed about her deformed breast to tell her mother or doctor about it.   When she finally did tell  someone it was too late - as it was in my mother's case - and the cancer had spread into her lymphatic system.  The young lady was not aware of this type of breast cancer as many are not aware of it. 

My mission is to raise awareness about this sneaky type of breast cancer, IBC.   Even if you have mammograms every year or every six months, it is important to do your self exams and in the shower is a great place to do them.  That is why I'm making the wash cloths, to remind ladies to take a few minutes once a month to do their self exams while in the shower.  With each washcloth I'll give a self-exam checklist as well as a fact sheet about IBC.

So...  Recap: In Memory of Mom, To Remember to self-exam, To Raise Awareness.  All in one simple washcloth.  I'll let you know how the sales of these go this weekend when I try them out at my yard sale.  Keeping my fingers crossed!


List of resourceful links from this post:

• National Breast Cancer Foundation - Self Examination

• Join The Pink Ribbon Army On Facebook

• About IBC - Inflammatory Breast Cancer

• Pattern For Washcloth On Coats And Clark Website and its PDF Download