Something's spreading, and it's not cancer

Knowledge of inflammatory breast cancer is spreading.

For my birthday, my mom sent me the New Mexico Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) Awareness Proclamation.  Framed.  Great job, mom!

On my birthday, my cousin knuckle-bumped with the Governor of Nebraska as he handed over an IBC Awareness Proclamation for that flat, I mean great, state.  You rock, Bec!

My dad, stepmom, and sisters designed some lovely IBC awareness long-sleeved running shirts that we're selling for $20 (sizes men's M-XXL).  We'll donate the profits to the IBC foundation (after we order some more feminine sizes; I'll alert you when they're available).  I'll have to figure out a better way to handle the orders, but for now just email my sister (hollyasman at gmail dot com) if you want to make a purchase.

And today a woman from the local medical clinic interviewed me for an article about IBC and the Iowa proclamation.  I independently sent out a press release about the proclamation-signing that will take place on Thursday, but the interviewer said that she would also write a release.  We'll see if anyone picks it up.

One of the questions in the interview was why I'm doing this.  Not that I'm doing anything alone, but I think she meant why I'm putting so many personal details out there (here) and spending so much energy on advocacy.  The obvious answer is because I want to educate others on the very existence of this disease.  If folks know about it, they can push for the appropriate medical steps to ensure an early diagnosis of a suspicious breast, decreasing the likelihood of deadly metastases.  (It's not cancer in the breast that kills a person; it's cancer that spreads out of the breast to the brain, lungs, or liver.)

The less obvious answer is perhaps self-serving:  catharsis, fun, and intrigue.  It helps that I'm relatively brave (you only live once!), and that I'm a fast typist.  Blogging isn't an enormous time investment for me.  But if I keep up the current pace of blogging and advocacy, I'm going to be in serious need of a housekeeper.  

I'd like to end with a shout-out to my awesome family for the surprise birthday party last night.  It was my first surprise party, and indeed I was surprised!  Who knew 31 could be so incredible?