Put up Your Dukes, Breast Cancer

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My brother A~, my husband, and ten of their co-workers ran a 200-mile relay race last May, each taking three turns on the road over a thirty-hour period. The team was named the Pluto Liberation Front. Apparently the team felt strongly about size-ism in astronomy and they were upset about Pluto's demotion from noble planet to mere gaseous mass of rock and space-debris.

Either that or no one could think of a name they liked better.

This year the team has taken up a more serious or should I say an actual cause. They're raising money to fight breast cancer, in my honor. My brother named the team Over the Hills as a nod to the aging team members, the race route, and also as a subtle, perhaps obscure reference to breasts.

Ragnar, the race sponsor, provides an easy tie-in with the Susan G. Komen foundation. Many have already contributed through the web page my brother set up for that purpose.

While it means a lot to me that friends and loved ones have opened their wallets in my honor, and I have nothing against the Komen foundation, they do wonderful things, I have to admit I am ambivalent about being a poster child "for the cure." I've said this before, forgive me loyal readers, but I'll say it again. A cure would be nice, it would save a lot of lives. It would also make some lucky pharmaceutical company a mountain of cash.

Which is why I'd rather focus my energy on the aspects of this epidemic that are not already addressed by a profit motive. I'm disturbed by companies like Eli Lilly that profit both from drugs to fight breast cancer while manufacturing products linked to causing it (rBGH - banned outright in many countries, including the entire European Union). I don't think enough resources are directed toward addressing this and other environmental connections with cancer.

There's a foundation, Breast Cancer Action, that digs up just these kinds of troubling realities and does something about it. They also work to make sure that the disenfranchised among us get care as good as I do. Black women with breast cancer die of this disease in much higher numbers than white women, for reasons that can and need to change.

So here's what I did. I designed a logo for the running team reflecting my brother's subtle reference to breasts as "hills." And then I designed the official team t-shirt, where the reference is anything but subtle. I wanted this shirt to get you thinking about breasts and how vulnerable we all are. I'm going to sell it to anyone who wants one, all proceeds going to Breast Cancer Action. We're still hashing out the details on shirt color and price, but it'll likely look like this:

With this on the back:

What do you think?

Stay tuned for t-shirt purchasing details and the Over The Hills Komen donating link as well. I need to get that from my brother.