The bOOb Lady’s Blog

Breast Cancer Awareness month (October) is just around the corner, and one of the more creative — and controversial — fundraisers in support of the cause is the Blogger Boobie-Thon. For one week, bloggers around the globe expose their “girls” (covered and uncovered) to benefit breast cancer research. The effort doesn’t discriminate, as man-boobs are most welcome.  (They also have a beautiful gallery of breastfeeding photos.) You can pledge dollars, bare your own, or support the effort by providing technical assistance. Anyway you look at them, you’ve gotta love the Blogger Boobie-Thon motto: “we share because we care.”     

If you didn’t think it possible to laugh about breast cancer, you haven’t read Tania Katan’s award winning memoir about her battle with this disease. Now she’s taken her humorous and loving “mammoir” and adapted it to the stage in Saving Tania’s Privates. It’s a show about “far out families, quirky girlfriends and boobs — but not necessarily in that order.” Get a sneak peak on YouTube!

Please welcome to the world the cover for my book, available this October from Seal Press. Give it up for my girls, please!

Join The bOOb Lady on November 26^th at Chop Suey in Seattle, for a burlesque fundraiser to benefit breast cancer. While I won’t be there twirling my amateur tassels, I will be donating my limited edition bOOb glasses to auction off at the event. The evening promises to deliver a unique blend of entertainment, with professional burlesque and cabaret stars such as The Swedish Housewife, Lucky Penny, and Vienna Le Rouge—just to name a few. Proceeds benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation, an organization funding research into the prevention of and cure for breast cancer.

Tickets are $12 in advance ($15 at the door) and can be purchased on-line at Brown Paper Tickets. The evening includes a charity auction featuring signed Burlesque photos, posters, event logo t-shirts, and much, much more. For more info, please visit Boobies for Boobies. Grab your girls and help support a truly breastactular cause!

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October is awash in pink ribbons, urging us to take care of our breast health or help support the cause of finding a cure for breast cancer. But for some, it’s also a devastating reminder of their own battle with the disease. In this month’s Glamour magazine, you’ll find Kelly Corrigan’s touching story of survival. At 36 years of age, she was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. Kelly writes a powerful essay about how spotting pink ribbons all around her was “enough to make [her] scream.”  Reading her story will give you special insight into the reaction one breast cancer survivor has to the “pinking” of October. 

Kelly’s essay is part of Circus of Cancer, a great site for those wishing to support friends diagnosed with breast cancer. Here you’ll find advice on what to say; how you can help (from cooking a meal to buying her a front-closure bra); to what to expect when she undergoes breast cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy.  The site includes sassy, free e-cards, and gifts you won’t find anywhere else. It may not be wrapped in pink, but Circus of Cancer does offer concrete ways to help friends, and their families.

Breast cancer is scary, but thanks to modern medical science, less deadly. Don’t let the pink season get you down. Keep in touch with your own girls and the latest in breast cancer research, all year round.

In line with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, More magazine’s October issue devotes 20 pages to the topic. They cover past, present and future ways to detect and prevent breast cancer; hormones and breast cancer; personal stories of survival; a patient’s guide on what to expect; and what to do if cancer re-occurs. This is all great, but seems geared to those already diagnosed or in treatment. These articles don’t address a woman’s overall risk of breast cancer and whether we can make lifestyle changes to prevent its occurrence.

One scary statistic, oft repeated, is that “one out of seven” women will get breast cancer.  Does that mean one out of seven of your best girlfriends will get the disease? No. That number represents a lifetime risk of breast cancer, based on every woman reaching age 85, and doesn’t take into consideration family or lifestyle risk factors. For a better understanding of your future risk, go to More mag’s on-line site. Brought to you by Harvard Health Publications, you’ll find a comprehensive guide to breast cancer, including an enlightening chart with statistics for women ages 20 to 70 years young. Check it out, and be good to your girls! 

What woman likes to get a mammogram? It’s a procedure few of us relish:  a stranger pokes and pulls, and finally squishes each of our breasts between two hard plates of plastic. We may find it painful, uncomfortable, or simply annoying. Standing half-naked in an overly chilled room (best for the equipment), our arm is positioned at some oddly tortuous, unnatural angle, while we watch the equipment flatten us like pancakes. We’re then asked to “please, hold your breath.” Let’s face it, this is no way to treat our “girls.” (more…)