I did take pause for a minute after she’d walked away. Because really, what had I done that was so special? My friend would have done the same things I did were she in my shoes … anyone would have, right? I did what the doctors told me to do. That’s it. No big effort on my part. But whatever, I thought, pour on the praise, I’ll take it. I’ll wear the bracelet.

When someone I knew was diagnosed a few years later I went up to her in a similar fashion and tried to put a bracelet on her wrist; she adamantly said, ‘no, no, please no.’ I was like, ‘huh, what gives with that?’ I didn’t understand. I mean, if I could wear one, why couldn’t she? She was undergoing chemo and everything. The big league compared to what I went through. Next to her, I only deserved a silver medal. I was more confused by this bracelet thing than ever.

A year later, I got breast cancer again … as you know … and my breast cancer recurrence made me feel like I was in an entirely different category once again.

Then I realized a hierarchy I’d created in my own mind: A partial mastectomy trumps a lumpectomy. Chemo trumps radiation. A double mastectomy trumps a single. And a recurrence trumps all and is only trumped by metastatic disease.

Ridiculous, isn’t it?

When a friend of mine started telling me how strong I was one day I stopped her: help me understand, I said. Help me understand the kudos I’m getting for following my doctor’s recommendations!

She said: “You are going through something that people our age fear. We feel horrible for you but at the same time, we’re so relieved and glad it isn’t us. And, we feel guilty about that. But what you do is prove to us that we’d be able to do it, too, if it happened to us. You are a role model to us. A trailblazer. Someone who has heading down the path before us and would show us the way if it were to happen to us. That’s what makes you strong.”

I hugged her and looked down at my rubber pink awareness bracelet and thought: I get it.

I do think it is more important for non-survivors to wear them than it is for us to wear them. I’m touched when my husband wears his pink bracelet. I’m touched when my friends wear theirs. When I see strangers wearing one I often mutter a quiet ‘thank you’ because of what they are doing.

Seeing these bracelets on people is an outward sign that people care about what we went through. They are acknowledging the trying events that took place in our lives. They are showing their admiration and respect and empathy — and that is so, so appreciated.

But it is also important for breast cancer survivors themselves to wear them. To show others that we are the ones that have blazed the trail before them. That we would be there for them if they face the same diagnosis we faced. That they would not be heading into uncharted territory — that there are those that forged their way before them and that would stand beside them every single step they take down that path if they had to take it. Every single step of the way.

(Image: Karen Lynch)

Post from: Blisstree

The Meaning of Those Rubber Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelets