“I meant to tell you,” said the woman standing next to me at the bar, “that I like your pool case.” The bar was Si Greene’s, and I was there to play pool. On that day, in addition to the pink pool case that I carry, I was also wearing a pink Breast Cancer Awareness T-shirt, emblazoned with the pink ribbon and the words, “For The Love Of Her Life.” I started to speak to the woman about why I carried a pink pool case, and as I wound down my explanations, she quietly said to me: “I am a survivor.”
In its Oct. 7th, 2011 edition, the Weekly View published the story of my two friends who are breast cancer survivors; it was then that I began a tradition of highlighting breast cancer awareness statistics each October, including changing my picture atop this column to one of me wearing a pink shirt. I was living in St. Louis Missouri when I wrote that column. I moved to Indiana in 2012 and after joining a pool league, I purchased a pink pool case for my cue sticks, a case that I would carry each October. After getting snickers and rude comments about my cue case, I printed some business-sized cards with breast cancer awareness statistics and handed them out to the men who commented. I told them, “I carry this case for your wives, your daughters, your sisters, your mothers, and your aunts.” On that recent day at Si Greene’s when Deb Thompson noted my advocacy, I gave her excerpts from my stock speech, which is when she told me of her survival.
Breast Cancer Awareness month began in 1985, organized in part by the American Cancer Society (ACS.) Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald Ford, was also actively involved, having had a mastectomy to treat breast cancer shortly after her husband became President. She was open and honest about her illness and treatment, and became a spokesperson for the ACS, and advocate for early detection and treatment, the focal point of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My personal advocacy began when my friends Nancy and Lisa had mastectomies, but in the last couple of years I have learned of more friends and relatives who had had breast cancer. In September 2016, I wrote “It’s a Pink Thing,” and in June 2018, I wrote “The Case For Pink,” where I declared that I would carry my pink pool case every day.
On Sunday, August 3rd, I attended the Irvington Historical Society’s Ice Cream Social with the co-owner of this publication, Paula Nicewanger. I was wearing my pink ribbon T-shirt, and while I sat at a table talking to another friend, a woman across the table from me commented on the shirt, and said, “I’m a survivor.”
I overheard a man at Si Greene’s say to another man who was commenting on my pool case, “He’s carrying it for a good reason.” A man with whom I compete on the pool table started to comment on my open display of pink, but he did not finish whatever thought he had. I’ve not known him long, so he has not been exposed to my open advocacy of breast cancer awareness. And though October is the official month of observation, I will continue to make the “pink point,” the one that Deb Thompson recognized, and that also resonated with Susan. Breast cancer awareness should be an everyday event. And guys:
The American Cancer Society estimates that, in 2025, 2,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men; about 510 will die.
cjon3acd@att.net