Prompt #25:

• We don’t stop learning when we leave the classroom. Share something you learned from another Health Activist (Share their name/blog/website!).

I arrived at work on Thursday morning to find an email message from one of my co-workers with a link to the NYTimes Magazine article Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer by Peggy Orenstein. I had never read anything by Peggy before, but was immediately drawn into the article. Talk about a comprehensive piece on the current state of breast cancer ‘awareness’–a crash course if you will on all of the issues related to BC that I have become immersed in this past year. This article is a must read.

I’ve also been impressed with the number of bloggers who have weighed in on this article with their own unique insights. Oliver at Entering a World of Pink weighed in as a male biologist with breast cancer, contending that early screening is beneficial in terms of our understanding of breast cancer.  Kathryn O’Brien writes two insightful pieces, one in her role with the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (an organization, by the way, that is fighting for treatments to extend life) and then follows up with this piece at her personal blog ihatebreastcancer. Katie at A Time for Such a Word speaks on the Abstract and Personal nature of this article, breast cancer and friendships in the blogosphere. Anotheronewithcancer-Yes I am the Cancer Curmudgeon weighs in on the Failure of Awareness.

I doubt if I would have the ‘awareness’ and understanding of the current state of affairs of breast cancer Orenstein writes about if I had not stumbled upon Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer a year ago and Marie’s Weekly Round Up of bloggers who have made a difference in her world. With her links to so many wonderful writers, I’ve expanded my world–and understanding of it–immeasurably.