The National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) has set a deadline. We know that setting a deadline alone won’t end breast cancer, but we believe a change in focus will, coupled with a strategic plan of action. Setting the deadline is a tool to change the focus during this decade—to change how all of us view our work in breast cancer and how we do it. To bring back a sense of urgency to breast cancer. Business as usual is not working. It’s time to reset the course.
As a grassroots activist, you play a unique and critical role in the success of Breast Cancer Deadline 2020®. While some of you may be involved in the more targeted aspects of the initiative, such as working on legislation or one of the summits, all of us must be involved in changing the conversation to underpin and support the change that must happen in Congress, research labs and medical establishments across the country and the world.
It is up to all of us to change the conversation taking place in schools, markets, churches, doctors’ offices, university classrooms and gyms across our country. Whenever and wherever the topic of breast cancer is discussed, it is up to us to challenge the myths, correct misinformation, and inject a sense of urgency.
It’s time to move from…
It’s time to move from being willing to settle for too little… to settling for nothing less than an end to breast cancer.
There are no limits to when and where you can change the conversation. You can change the conversation about breast cancer anytime, anywhere. Consider different places where the conversation is happening now and think about how you can begin to change someone’s preconceived notions so they become open to new ways of thinking about breast cancer:
Invite a conversation. You can start by asking your friend, spouse or siblings something as simple as, “Have you ever thought about what it might take to prevent breast cancer from developing in the first place?” You can invite your friends, family members, even your breast cancer support group to look at NBCC resources and talk about how you would change the conversation with others.
While we can always rely on an NBCC advocate to be the best source for changing the conversation about breast cancer, one might not always be on hand. NBCC has a wealth of resources available on its website at BreastCancerDeadline2020.org. Invite folks to use these resources.
Scenario: A friend asks about an email she got saying you got “On the Clock”.Your response: You respond that to show your support for Breast Cancer Deadline 2020®, the most promising approach to ending breast cancer, you got “On the Clock” while you attended the Annual Advocacy Training Conference where you learned how innovative ideas are born and how impossible projects succeed. Invite her to go to BreastCancerDeadline2020.org to learn more and to get “On the Clock” in her name or in the name of a loved one she designates.
Scenario: Your doctor says, “It’s time for your annual mammogram.”
Your response: Ask if he or she would discuss how this would be a benefit to you. Ask what is your risk of breast cancer, how much would getting a mammogram reduce your individual risk and what would be the down side. Then tell him or her you are really interested in how we can end breast cancer for everyone and ask how she or he thinks the emphasis on annual mammograms will end breast cancer. Suggest to him or her that it’s time to change the conversation from breast cancer screening to one that focuses on how we end the disease. Suggest that we begin by focusing on primary prevention of breast cancer and preventing metastasis to save lives. Then we can measure real progress, not by measuring how many women have been screened or what the five-year survival rates are but by seeing significant reductions in incidence and mortality rates. NBCC’s strategic plan—Breast Cancer Deadline 2020®—aims to do just that and invite him or her to begin changing the conversation with colleagues and other patients.
It’s important to speak to others with respect. A person will find it difficult to hear what you say otherwise. This is not a matter of convincing others you are right and they are wrong. It’s your job to connect with others, plant seeds, raise questions and share challenging information in ways that will change the conversation. Keep the conversation going. You never know. Once the conversation has changed, the person with whom you are speaking may be the one who has the next innovative idea or the next major step toward preventing breast cancer.
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