BUTTERFLIES, OVARIAN CANCER and the REAL WORLD

Guess Where

 

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.  I’m sure you are aware of ovarian cancer.  The real question: what have you done about it?

Well, in South Carolina they are releasing butterflies.  A Native American belief is that, if you have a wish, you must whisper it to a butterfly, then let it go.  Butterflies can’t talk, so they can relay your wish only to the Great Spirit.  It is a beautiful bit of symbolism, and possibly just as effective as some of the science I read about, too much of which seems to involve spinning wheels, exhaust smoke, and minimal progress.  That’s why I fervently lobby for a change in the way research funds are allocated; see my blog on the book The Truth in Small Doses*.  Here is the article:

http://coladaily.com/2015/09/18/photo-gallery-butterflies-take-flight-raise-awareness-ovarian-cancer/

As for the real world, here is a NYTimes article by a cancer survivor who also is a well-known academic.  She is writing a journal relating her struggles, which have gone on for a few years now.  Read this only if you feel the need to get inside the skin of a cancer victim.  It will not cheer you up.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/living-with-cancer-teal-ribbons/?ref=health&_r=0

http://ljb-quiltcutie.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-truth-in-small-doses-at-long-last_7.html