I just want to post this video again:
Like every guy, when I was younger I had my conversations with other guys whether I am an “ass” man or a “boob” man, and I always used to jokingly respond “don’t they come as a package, why do I need to choose?” But when I watch this video, I realize what really turns me on- confidence, a sense of purpose, and attitude.
Now that’s fucking sexy.
Just Some Fuckhead
This is not a Cars video.
Omnes Omnibus
I’ll admit that I am squeamish and did not watch the entire thing. I admire her courage and tenacity.
wasabi gasp
You’re all those things, too. Show us your boobs anyway.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: I made myself watch it, even after she gave the warning about showing everything. It’s a helluva vid.
Gwangung
Oh, yes. A HELL of a video.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: I am sure that it is. Let’s just say I am a lawyer not a doctor for a reason. I know it is is something I should watch and I will steel myself to do it. Eventually, I will see it. But not before I am ready.
amk
It’s a painful reminder what my only sis went through a few months back. I am glad she beat all the odds and is truly on the recovery path with not much side-effects of that crappy chemo thanks to UK’s excellent NHS. (touch wood)
Omnes Omnibus
@amk: Best of luck to your sis.
Debbie(aussie)
That lady is amazing. And you, John, are pretty great your self.
Pseudonym
John, we all know that you’re both an ass and a boob. That’s why we like you.
amk
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks. Spoke to her just now. She’s doing well. Will have her follow-up check up in 6 months. Keeping fingers crossed.
TuiMel
Even though I had my own mastectomy and lymph node removal last March, I found myself balking at viewing Linda’s scars. Silly, I know. I told myself that I knew what I would see, so I should not feel shock (I was right) and should listen to what she had to say (right again). For others feeling squeamish, I encourage you to look at what breast cancer really looks like.
Cancer DOES make one frank. There simply is no time for bull shit. When I received an email from the Puget Sound Komen affiliate trying to justify the new grant policy, I told them that they would never get another dime from me and that the witch hunt against PP needed to stop. And then I realized it felt good to distance myself from this charity. I had come to hate seeing pink everywhere – I did not need or want these ubiquitous marketing reminders of the fight of and for my life. So, good riddance! I will look for a better avenue to support the quest to end breast cancer.
Tomorrow, I will respond to the affiliate’s “Hey, National changed its mind and we’re so glad” email. I will tell them that their brand is irreparably damaged in my eyes, and the rift is permanent. I will also tell them how insulting the initial video by Nancy Brinker was: The “face” of Komen didi not think its supporters we’re capable of critical thinking, and she resented their militant and heretical behavior. How DARE anyone question Komen’s motives? Didn’t they know she has fiduciary responsibilities???? Well, I will do my part to relieve Ms. Brinker and Co of that particular burden. Not another dime in contributions – not one red cent for “pink” merchandise .
It is almost amusing how the arrogance of the organization came into full view. Almost.
Bnut
My mother died of breast cancer when I was 5. My grandmother died of breast cancer when I was 20. My aunt had breast cancer 3 years ago and is fine. My sister (25), is considering getting a voluntary double mastectomy since she had a DNA test last year. The past week has been very contentious in my family. This women would fit in very well among us. Proud and strong women ftw.
Also, I remember my mother’s scars, her breast inserts for her clothes, the tubes in her chest. Fuck anyone who messes with our ability to combat such things.
amk
@TuiMel:
500 K/year doesn’t even begin to ‘cover’ it.
Hope you’re recovering well. My sis’s secret ? Plenty of pomegranate juice. She never once flunked the blood test (cells count) during the horrible chemo.
Omnes Omnibus
One of my best friends from law school got married to my best friend from law school. A week later, she had a lump examined. As it worked out, I stood up in my very first Jewish wedding and was a pall bearer at my very first Jewish funeral in the course of the same year and for the same person. I watched the person grow from an immature girl to a wonderful woman in three years, and then she died after a brutal fight with a stupid disease. Fuck anyone who messes with this shit for political reasons.
Yutsano
@Bnut:
This is such a fucking tough choice…and really a testament to how much advancement has happened in breast cancer treatment. I hope your sister realizes genetics are not always destiny. And I wish you both well.
TuiMel
@amk:
Thank you, and please give my best to your sis. I drank grape juice. It was one of the few things that my chemo-fried taste buds could taste “true” from start to finish of my treatment.
Omnes Omnibus
@TuiMel: I will watch it. I just need to work my nerve up. Ask me to jump out of a plane, no issues. Ask me to do something physically brave and it is easy. If it goes bad, I feel physical pain and I get better. This lady’s courage is something different. i don’t know if I could ever have it.
Bnut
@Yutsano: I appreciate it man. It really has been a big issue in our family since we all have sported so much pink in the past 2 decades. We are all so progressive and secular, yet so Jewish, that we can’t help feel guilty about not supporting either/or SGK or PP. We picked PP obv.
TuiMel
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think you could. But, I hope you never have to. Necessity can be the mother of the sort of inner strength she shows.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
You should watch the video. I cried when I saw it. I’m tearing up thinking about it. You should watch it anyway. This woman is one of those amazing people you’d like to be like. Or at least to have met someone with her courage and just downright humanity at least once in your life. The 4th year anniversary of my sisters passing from breast cancer is coming up in about 3 weeks, on my moms 94th birthday. I watched it for her.
Omnes Omnibus
@TuiMel: Christ, I hope I never need to. More than that, I hope no one I love needs to do it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: I can’t right now. I will. Just not now. I know what I will see. And I don’t need to see it to know the right thing.
TuiMel
@Bnut:
I Am sorry about the choice your sister faces. I hope for the best for her. A very tough thing about being diagnosed is the knowledge that your diagnosis may mean the women in your family may face your fate. I am the fourth in two generations on my mother’s side. In the case of the BRCCA gene, the odds are much tougher. May your sister get all the help and excellent medical care / advice she needs for the road that lies ahead of her.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
I know. I’m not trying to force you, just hopefully support you. Take your time, when you are ready. I think you will be glad that you did, when you are ready. And when you do, if I can be of help, let me know.
Yutsano
@Bnut: I always had a tickle in the back of my head about SGK. And I’ve done cancer events before (my fraternity did Relay For Life as a service event every year. Yes I just outed myself there.) but I could never get around to supporting them. I see that instinct was well placed.
Interesting story: the very first week I was in Seattle Planned Parenthood was hosting a fundraiser outside a grocery store. I gave them $10. It felt pretty damn good.
Shorter me: no need for the guilt. Though I totally get it. :)
asiangrrlMN
@Bnut: Oh, Bnut. That’s so rough. Good to see you, though it’s under not-so-good circumstances. Is this the sister you went into the food biz with? Anyway, I wish your sister all the best. It’s not an easy choice at all. Hugs to you and to her.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: I get it. I just am flashing back to leaving a giant cookie outside her apartment the day she got her diagnosis. Shit, I am crying just thinking about this. Let’s just say that people who play political games with this need to be crushed.
Ruckus
@TuiMel:
Sounds like my family. 4 of the 6 women, mom’s generation and her kids. Mom is the only one to survive BC.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Let’s just say that people who play political games with this need to be crushed.
At the very fucking least.
asiangrrlMN
@Ruckus: So sorry about your sister, Ruckus.
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, OO. Sorry about your friend.
Hugs to you both.
I agree with the sentiment that anyone who tries to play politics with something as horrific as breast cancer needs to be crushed like a bug.
Omnes Omnibus
@asiangrrlMN: Long time ago. Doesn’t mean I won’t pick up a baseball bat as needed. You would have liked her. She was demented and weird and a fantastic tennis player.
Bnut
@Yutsano: I was was a frat boy myself at one point lol. We had Big Brothers as our thing, which I greatly enjoyed. I was destroyed at pool by kids half my age.
@asiangrrlMN: Same sister. We are breaking even on our events so far, which is more than one can expect at first in a small business. Once the spring/summer concert season starts we will see how we really do. My sister is the shit though.
Ruckus
@asiangrrlMN:
Hey you! Glad to see you, yeah not under so good circumstances.
Going to be a little philosophical here. We all die. Some die young(cousin at about 6 months), some medium(good friend at 21, a few in the military), aunt(early forties), and on and on. Some die hard, some just don’t wake up. Some die doing what they want, some die never having that chance.
None of that is the issue. The issue is how we live and how we take care of those who need help living. As a country I give us about a D, maybe D-. At best. We aren’t the worst but we sure aren’t the best. For sure this is no christian nation. If it was we would be taking much better care of each other.
asiangrrlMN
@Omnes Omnibus: I like weird people very much. Damn shame. I have my rusty pitchfork™ to back up your baseball bat. P.S. I consider it a badge of honor to be called odd.
@Bnut: Breaking even? That is good news, indeed. Really hope things work out well for your sister. ::terrorist fist jab::
@Ruckus: Still, good to see the old gang. And, yeah. We’re struggling as a country right now, no doubt.
Yutsano
@Bnut: Breaking even at this point portends very very well indeed! There’s a new food truck opening up here specializing in Native American food. I need to go check it out some Saturday. I’ll let you know if anything is worth copying/stealing. :)
@asiangrrlMN: U iz odd. We wouldn’t have thee any other fashion.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: I iz bery odd. I waz born that way.
Omnes Omnibus
@asiangrrlMN: I know that odd is a badge of honor for you. Flea was quite odd. If necessary, I will knock some nails through the baseball bat. Will that help?
Bnut
@Yutsano: Do you know what they serve? The only Native American foods I can think of are frybread, cornbread and succotash.
@asiangrrlMN: Back at ya, Mooooshelle.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bnut: I have had very good venison steak sandwiches at Native American events.
Yutsano
@Bnut: Yes the name is corny. They do frybread and succotash but also quinoa salads and pulled pork. Which is not all that Native. Although pigs arrived the same time horses came back, so I guess it’s possible.
@Omnes Omnibus: I hate you. I want an elk roast now!
asiangrrlMN
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes. That works very well. Odd – more like a nod of acceptance. I fought it for many years to no avail. Let’s go knock some heads and fork some asses in Flea’s honor.
@Bnut: I’m glad your business is going well. Your sister sounds like a dynamo.
Hm. Wondering if I should eat dinner or just forget it.
Omnes Omnibus
@asiangrrlMN: ‘Kay. Seriously, in a just world, there is no way that I ever stood by that woman’s graveside. Pisses me off to this day.
asiangrrlMN
@Omnes Omnibus: I know. ::hugs::
MacKenna
I went over to Youtube to leave this woman a positive comment and proceeded to read the comments which, thankfully, are mostly positive. Naturally, this being the Internet, there are a few trolls but they are being bitchslapped so hard by supporters of this woman, their comments only display if you click on them. Get too many thumbs down and your comment is treated like spam, is hidden, has to be clicked on to view.
Anyway, I really loved seeing this message from the lady whose name is Linda.
She is reading all the comments, so if you’ve a mind, leave her one.
Donna
@TuiMel: You totally rock!
My best friend and housemate had, as she puts it, a full boobectomy this past Tuesday. She’s home now with humor still in place though other bits…not so much. I paint and as a way to work through what’s happening to her body, she’s let me paint her full portrait before and again after.
And Mr. Cole — grazie mille!
RedKitten
I said it in the other thread, and will say it here. That woman is a fucking hero.
We need more people around with her intelligence and humour and courage. Live a long, long life, Linda. And give ’em hell the entire time.
amk
@TuiMel: Thanks. I’m happy that her awful days are over. Hopefully.
harlana
this video made me cry. i have never referred to myself as a “survivor” because what i went through pales in comparison to what this lady has endured and survived. but because my parents subsidized my health care, i was able to have the surgery and treatments i needed without going bankrupt.
this lady knows that proper health care has helped her survive and wants others, regardless of their station in life, to have access to the same care she had, however horrific the side-effects, she has survived to fight another day. the Komen Foundation was a symbol of hope to many women, and they have broken the hearts of thousands and thousands of women.
gelfling545
@Omnes Omnibus: I think you have hit on one of the most offensive aspects of the Komen debacle. They used people’s love to draw them in and then betrayed it.
Gregory Thelen
I’m in my 16th month of treatment for rectal adenocarcinoma, and waiting to find out if the surgeons are willing to go in for a second time, which they will do only if they strongly believe they can get it all. The cancer recurred even before the first course of treatment was through. Fuck that pink shit. It’s condescending. We’re grown up enough to have doctors tell us grim survival rates and to live with the brutal effects of chemo and radiation and surgery. I’ve got pictures of my first big tumor, and I’ll show you my stoma,if you want. Fuck those people, as if cancer makes us children.
Betsy
I <3 you even more for this, John. You probably didn't even realize it at the time, but pushing back against the idea that women are just different parts all stuck together, rather than whole human beings, is at the root of this. Given this comment, you might be interested in Jill Lepore's take on the Komen/PP throwdown in the NYer, "Komen’s Choice.”
TuiMel
@Donna:
Oh, how I wish I rocked. Mostly, I relied on friends and family and was grateful for insurance and financial wherewithal to follow prescribed treatments.
My best to your housemate. I tried to keep my humor in place; there were days when that was less easy than others. I hope her recovery is complete, as quick ad possible, and long-lasting.
Donna
Thank you TuiMel. Thank you much. This is the post I wrote on the eve of surgery.
http://donna-tellmeastory.blogspot.com/2012/01/stayin-alive.html
She and I will write the next chapter together.
And I wish you great, good continuing health!