In 1994, the fashion industry launched its own fund raising and awareness campaign -- Fashion Targets Breast Cancer -- which has been embraced by some of the young, upstart organizations. They sell T-shirts, home wares and body care products, all conspicuous for their absence of pink ribbons.
While many of the campaigns for young women are very tasteful, some go too far, according to critics. Awareness groups geared toward younger women have multiplied exponentially over the last several years, and their messages have gotten saucier. Campaigns urge women to "Feel Your Boobies" and "Save the Ta-Tas." Advocates say they are speaking to young women in their language. Critics dismiss the campaigns as crass and chauvinistic.
Jeanna Shibona, who started the local chapter of the Young Survival Coalition, said she doesn't know what the fuss is about. She has all the T-shirts, including one that reads "Forget the whales, save your boobs."
"I don't know why anyone would be offended," Shibona said. "We totally dig all that stuff."
When the Young Survival Coalition linked to Spencer's "Boobies Make me Smile" campaign on Facebook, a debate erupted about whether it was appropriate to support that kind of advertising. In many cases, survivors themselves said it was not. After all, a campaign focused on the beauty of breasts wouldn't have much place for survivors who have undergone mastectomies. They survived the disease. Their breasts didn't. Whatever happened to saving the cancer patient?
Shibona, who tested positive for the breast cancer gene after her diagnosis at age 25, underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction, but doesn't find breast-centric messaging offensive. She thinks it is an effective way to get through to younger women.
Groups like Rethink Breast Cancer insist they are doing just that. "Feel Your Boobies" is a play on the old self-examination pamphlet. But instead of a clinical how-to with instructions about radiating outward from the nipple, the ads take a more playful, casual approach. Women should know their bodies, it says. And they should feel their breasts regularly to make sure nothing is amiss. Rules aren't as important as self-knowledge, and body awareness can make the difference between life and death.
Messaging isn't the only problem when it comes to young women and breast cancer. Post-menopausal women have a good preventive tool in mammograms, but as it turns out, a tactical knowledge of her breasts may be the best weapon a young woman has against the disease. Mammograms don't penetrate younger women's breast tissue very effectively. That's why they are not used routinely on women younger than 40.
Breast cancer is still a relatively rare disease among young women. And young women who find lumps may have to overcome the biases of their health-care provider. Although the vast majority of breast lumps in young women turn out to be benign, they should be checked out.
"The greatest risk factors for breast cancer are being a woman and getting older," said Stacey Gross, Community Programs Manager for the Southern Nevada Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "It is not common for women in their 20s and 30s. But if something doesn't feel right, report it."
Between five and 10 women under 40 are diagnosed every year through a Komen Foundation program that provides mammograms to the uninsured. The Las Vegas chapter of the Young Survival Coalition has about a dozen members. But even though their numbers are small, their trials are not. Young women suffer disproportionately from the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. And it often strikes when they are raising or planning young families.
Wheeler didn't connect with the first breast cancer support group she joined -- a group of grandmotherly types without small kids at home. In addition to chemotherapy that split her fingers and left blisters on the soles of her feet, Wheeler also had to contend with a post-surgical reality that left her unable to pick up her two children. The woman who had left a career at Delta Airlines to raise a family now couldn't even do that.
Many of the women in her current support group have young children. And many worry about their fertility, which can be impaired by chemotherapy. The group and the Komen Foundation can direct them to fertility centers that will help them store healthy eggs for use after treatment.
Single women have to contend with dating, and telling their partners about the disease. Then there's the specter of the disease's return, which lurks around every corner and makes the future an uncertain thing. Shibona, like Wheeler, didn't feel she belonged in support groups populated by older women. That's part of the reason she started a local chapter of Young Survival Coalition.
"I wanted to be able to talk about having sex with my boyfriend with no nipple," she said.
Shibona has been cancer-free for four years, but doctors are still keeping an eye on her ovaries.
After surgery, radiation and two rounds of chemotherapy, Wheeler remains in limbo. The radiation scarred her tissue completely, but doctors won't know if it eradicated the cancer for a couple of months. But she remains hopeful.
"This may be the worst two or three years of my life, and then it may be over," Wheeler said.
Her kids make it harder to have the disease, but they make recovering from it much more important. Wheeler's pregnancy may also enable the triumphant return of her breasts. As soon as she gets the all-clear, surgeons will perform a procedure to take the pregnancy padding from her belly to reconstruct her breast. It'll take her not one, but two steps toward her old life.
"I'll get the reconstruction -- and it's like a tummy-tuck at the same time," she said.
While many of the campaigns for young women are very tasteful, some go too far, according to critics. Awareness groups geared toward younger women have multiplied exponentially over the last several years, and their messages have gotten saucier. Campaigns urge women to "Feel Your Boobies" and "Save the Ta-Tas." Advocates say they are speaking to young women in their language. Critics dismiss the campaigns as crass and chauvinistic.
Jeanna Shibona, who started the local chapter of the Young Survival Coalition, said she doesn't know what the fuss is about. She has all the T-shirts, including one that reads "Forget the whales, save your boobs."
"I don't know why anyone would be offended," Shibona said. "We totally dig all that stuff."
When the Young Survival Coalition linked to Spencer's "Boobies Make me Smile" campaign on Facebook, a debate erupted about whether it was appropriate to support that kind of advertising. In many cases, survivors themselves said it was not. After all, a campaign focused on the beauty of breasts wouldn't have much place for survivors who have undergone mastectomies. They survived the disease. Their breasts didn't. Whatever happened to saving the cancer patient?
Shibona, who tested positive for the breast cancer gene after her diagnosis at age 25, underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction, but doesn't find breast-centric messaging offensive. She thinks it is an effective way to get through to younger women.
Groups like Rethink Breast Cancer insist they are doing just that. "Feel Your Boobies" is a play on the old self-examination pamphlet. But instead of a clinical how-to with instructions about radiating outward from the nipple, the ads take a more playful, casual approach. Women should know their bodies, it says. And they should feel their breasts regularly to make sure nothing is amiss. Rules aren't as important as self-knowledge, and body awareness can make the difference between life and death.
Messaging isn't the only problem when it comes to young women and breast cancer. Post-menopausal women have a good preventive tool in mammograms, but as it turns out, a tactical knowledge of her breasts may be the best weapon a young woman has against the disease. Mammograms don't penetrate younger women's breast tissue very effectively. That's why they are not used routinely on women younger than 40.
Breast cancer is still a relatively rare disease among young women. And young women who find lumps may have to overcome the biases of their health-care provider. Although the vast majority of breast lumps in young women turn out to be benign, they should be checked out.
"The greatest risk factors for breast cancer are being a woman and getting older," said Stacey Gross, Community Programs Manager for the Southern Nevada Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "It is not common for women in their 20s and 30s. But if something doesn't feel right, report it."
Between five and 10 women under 40 are diagnosed every year through a Komen Foundation program that provides mammograms to the uninsured. The Las Vegas chapter of the Young Survival Coalition has about a dozen members. But even though their numbers are small, their trials are not. Young women suffer disproportionately from the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. And it often strikes when they are raising or planning young families.
Wheeler didn't connect with the first breast cancer support group she joined -- a group of grandmotherly types without small kids at home. In addition to chemotherapy that split her fingers and left blisters on the soles of her feet, Wheeler also had to contend with a post-surgical reality that left her unable to pick up her two children. The woman who had left a career at Delta Airlines to raise a family now couldn't even do that.
Many of the women in her current support group have young children. And many worry about their fertility, which can be impaired by chemotherapy. The group and the Komen Foundation can direct them to fertility centers that will help them store healthy eggs for use after treatment.
Single women have to contend with dating, and telling their partners about the disease. Then there's the specter of the disease's return, which lurks around every corner and makes the future an uncertain thing. Shibona, like Wheeler, didn't feel she belonged in support groups populated by older women. That's part of the reason she started a local chapter of Young Survival Coalition.
"I wanted to be able to talk about having sex with my boyfriend with no nipple," she said.
Shibona has been cancer-free for four years, but doctors are still keeping an eye on her ovaries.
After surgery, radiation and two rounds of chemotherapy, Wheeler remains in limbo. The radiation scarred her tissue completely, but doctors won't know if it eradicated the cancer for a couple of months. But she remains hopeful.
"This may be the worst two or three years of my life, and then it may be over," Wheeler said.
Her kids make it harder to have the disease, but they make recovering from it much more important. Wheeler's pregnancy may also enable the triumphant return of her breasts. As soon as she gets the all-clear, surgeons will perform a procedure to take the pregnancy padding from her belly to reconstruct her breast. It'll take her not one, but two steps toward her old life.
"I'll get the reconstruction -- and it's like a tummy-tuck at the same time," she said.
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