Brave cancer patients proudly bear their scars to show what the disease REALLY looks like
The True Cancer Bodies campaign has been put together to show that cancer isn't all pink and fluffy
WHEN you think of breast cancer, what images immediately come to mind?
You might know that the disease can be incredibly serious but many of us tend to associate with being all pink and fluffy.
That's not our fault - it's because campaigns have often misguidedly tried to make it a more approachable illness.
But for people living with breast cancer - or any cancer, for that matter - those friendly images do nothing but alienate them further, because the reality can be devastatingly brutal.
That's why one breast cancer patient is campaigning to show the true face and bodies of cancer in the UK.
Mum-of-four Vicky Saynor, 43, is currently undergoing chemo for her cancer and she says that she often felt "completely unrepresented" by a lot of the existing cancer campaigns.
She was diagnosed with Grade 3 stage 1 breast cancer last November, after finding a lump using advice from the website.
“Although always well-meaning, the use of glossy celebrities and happy, smiling models in cancer campaigns, just did not reflect the reality of what we, the cancer patients, and our families have to endure," Vicky explained.
"The prognosis of so many cancer cases could be better if the population’s awareness was improved, we strongly feel that the best way to do this is by showing what cancer really looks like, the bald heads, the scars, the mastectomies...a picture of a 35-year-old women with a stoma bag is the real face of cancer, and is exactly what is needed to be shared to increase awareness of early detection techniques for example.”
She set up True Cancer Bodies, a collective which has been holding a photoshoot for around 20 people affected by cancer - both patients and survivors.
Those involved have suffered from breast, bowel, lung, liver, colon cancers and Hodkin's lymphoma.
The aim is to enlighten the public as to what cancer really looks like.
An ill-advised media campaign by a leading retailed kicked the project off - causing a massive social media backlash from many prominent cancer bloggers.
“I wanted some good to come out of all this fury and disappointment that was being shared on both social and traditional media”, continued Vicky.
“So I started to reach out to some inspiring cancer friends that I knew and we stumbled somewhat into an agreement that for far too long, cancer has been portrayed as fun, happy, fluffy and often pink.
"It also annoyed us that even though there are over 200 different cancers, that Breast Cancer especially dominated the narrative of major supporting retailers and corporations.
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"For example, April is Bowel Cancer Month, and bowel cancer is the 4th most common cancer in the UK and affects a surprisingly large number of younger people too.
"But can anyone remember the last time they saw a high profile celebrity campaign featuring attractive people talking about Bowel Cancer, or being encouraged to buy t-shirts that build awareness of bowel cancer, or lung cancer, or brain cancer...”
The group hopes to build awareness of all cancers and to give advice to government bodies and cancer campaigns to ensure that the sensitivities of cancer sufferers are considered in all published materials.
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