I’m going to be serious here for a moment. It doesn’t happen often or last very long, so listen up:
October is breast cancer awareness month. I’m sure all of you know how serious breast cancer can be and how important early detection is in the successful treatment of this disease.
As someone who had a biopsy* the week following her first ever mammogram, self-checks have become a far less embarrassing concept than they had been up to that point.
It doesn’t matter if you’re female or male—self-checks can save your life or the life of someone you love.
Remember TLC:
Touch — get to know what your breasts or chest feels like so you’ll know if anything changes.
Look — same thing; this is no time for modesty or body shame.
Consult — if you have any concerns or worries, ask a health care professional as soon as possible.
There’s even a free app that will provide monthly reminders, in a way that’s difficult to ignore.
And here’s where the serious moment ends—told you they were brief—because the video promoting this app is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time:
This is clearly aimed at a specific demographic, but it’s still effective—four people** sent me this and I saw it last week on two websites. I know if I had a phone that did anything but make phone calls, I’d download this in a second.
And it certainly reinforces TLC!
It’s not often that an important health message is delivered with such memorable hilarity. I’d like to see this one go viral.
Share a laugh, save a life.
Please pass it along.
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* Benign, fibrous, and no scares since. But it did focus my attention.
**Two of whom aren’t in the specific demographic.
Earful of Cider 