Shane Crawford needs our support in Sydney tomorrow!

Hi Sarah. I was a recipient of the My Journey pack upon diagnosis and it was a great help and I think it is important that this continue to made available to all women newly diagnosed. Likewise your website is a good resource for women looking for information and support, and I appreciate the Beacon Magazine. Therefore I applaud the efforts of Shane Crawford and the BCNA for your efforts to help women going through this nasty and most sickening disease.

However, like a growing number of "survivors" (and I'm growing to hate that term more and more) I am getting increasingly angry about the pink circus that October has become. Breast cancer (or any cancer) isn't glamorous or fun, and to me, that's what all the pink nonsense is making breast cancer out to be. The reality of breast cancer is that it can kill you. It can leave you without a breast or breasts, or at least with chunks cut out of the breast you have left. It's about feeling sick, and tired and frightened. It's about depression. It's about never really feeling 'sure' ever again about your future. Breast cancer is not about pink cup cakes, balloons, champagne, 'girl's nights in', games, fashion parades or ribbons and sequins. I am fed up with seeing pink ribbons and pink everything so that companies can turn a bigger profit. If you want to make your product pink and put a ribbon on the packet then ensure that 100% of profits go towards either research of helping women battling this disease - and most importantly, the breast cancer association that it is giving these products their symbol MUST ensure that the product is not in any way guilty of endorsing an unhealthy lifestyle that brings cancer into question (not saying we know the cause, but we do know what isn't healthy). Don't use Breast cancer to get people to buy your product over another, with the pathetic promise that a small portion of profits benefit women with breast cancer or research - that's called commercialisation and exploitation. Stop making women think that breast cancer is glamorous and fun and the 'right' kind of cancer as it's being celebrated in pink every year. It is of the utmost importance that any organisation that claims to be trying to help those diagnosed is not seen to be aligned with any organisation or product that is not conductive to good health. Whilst I applaud Shane Crawford for his efforts to raise funds, I definitely feel that the BCNA should be responsible in terms of having full and final control over where the pink lady symbol is displayed and what charitable function bears your name. I feel it is irresponsible for the BCNA to be associated with a junk food franchise in the name of charity. Whilst I understand that you had "no control" over what challenges the teams on Celebrity Apprentice were given, you must begin to exercise some responsibility over where your name or symbol is displayed or how funds are raised in the public arena. I do feel that it's time for organisations such as the BCNA to put a stop to the gross commercialisation of breast cancer, and the madness that October has become - and it's getting more commercial and crazy every year. Women that have never been through breast cancer would never understand where I'm coming from. Women that have been through this, and have to live with this damned disease every day, would understand what I'm talking about.