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My friend Kristin called me in September and asked me to do the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure walk with her. We\u2019re both breast cancer survivors \u2014 she received her diagnosis at age 43. I got mine at age 27. She thought the walk would be a good way to celebrate our lives and all we\u2019ve been through over the past few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not doing that,\u201d I said quickly when she asked. I\u2019ve been avoiding the color pink, and breast-cancer-anything, since my diagnosis. Kristin tried lots of tactics to convince me to do the walk with her. She said it was fun, you got to meet lots of great people, it would raise money for a good cause, and at the end we would get entrance into Survivor City, a white circus tent where you got a catered meal and a goody bag. \u201cLast year they gave out free toilet paper, too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
I raised my eyebrows.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d she nodded. \u201cI know, it\u2019s pretty great, right? I got twelve rolls for free!\u201d<\/p>\n
I told her that when pigs started skating across the frozen surface of hell, I might consider doing the race. And then a few days later she called me and told me she\u2019d just received the diagnosis every woman dreads. Metastatic Breast Cancer<\/p>\n
I cancelled my weekend plans and signed up to do the walk with her. The morning of the race, I reached into the recesses of my closet and pulled out all the pink clothing people have given me over the years. A pink hat, pink cargo pants, pink socks. And then I wore the T-shirt you get when you sign up for the race, the one that says in big letters across the front, Survivor.<\/p>\n
As we crossed the finish line together, holding hands, I wept. Because the hot flashes, joint pain, insomnia and fatigue from my cancer treatments make every day a challenge. Because the hope I want to feel has been buried under an avalanche of anger and sorrow, and here were tens of thousands of people saying with their presence that they were digging through the pain to find me, and together we were going to stand against the disease that claims 40,000 women\u2019s lives in the U.S. each year.<\/p>\n
Now that the race is over, my attention has turned from breast cancer to politics. I\u2019ve started sifting through interview transcripts and articles and video clips to learn more about the candidates and the issues I want to affect with my vote in November.<\/p>\n
I practice medicine as a physician assistant, so the health care crisis quickly caught my attention as one of the mosts critical choices our country needs to make in a few weeks. As I read, I learned that anywhere from 26,000-50,000 uninsured Americans die each year from lack of insurance.<\/p>\n
Even if you choose the lower estimate, that\u2019s still nearly four times the number of Haitians who have died from cholera since the 2010 earthquake. The higher estimates rival the number of women who die from breast cancer each year. But where\u2019s the fundraiser to solve the metastatic insurance issue? Where\u2019s the collective voice for these citizens who have been denied what the Declaration of Independence said is the first unalienable right of every American: Life.<\/p>\n
When I participated in Race for the Cure, I felt the support of so many people who showed up to support me and other breast cancer survivors in our struggles. But who stands with the uninsured who face the threat of dying from significant health crises? Who sees them buried under the avalanche of fear and the threat of financial ruin and tells them, Hang on. We\u2019ll dig through the mess of partisanship and posturing and legislative loopholes until we find you.<\/p>\n
If the health care crisis had a ribbon color, it would be translucent. Because it\u2019s the problem that most of us, especially the insured among us, choose not to see. It\u2019s the one we look through on our way to cracking jokes about binders and excessive water consumption. But the reality is, at least three Americans die every hour because we haven\u2019t figured out how to pass the health care reform that could save their lives.<\/p>\n
I have been thinking that, just like breast cancer, the health care crisis deserves its own month-long drive to raise awareness, and incite action, on behalf of this systemic malady. But then I realized that November 6th is just around the corner. And maybe we don\u2019t need a month to change our country\u2019s course.<\/p>\n
Maybe one day is enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Sarah Thebarge<\/strong>\u00a0is a speaker and author who grew up as a pastor\u2019s kid in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She earned a masters degree in Medical Science from Yale School of Medicine and was studying Journalism at Columbia University when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27. Her\u00a0writing has appeared in\u00a0Christianity Today<\/em>, BurnsideWriters.com,\u00a0Relevant<\/em>, TheOoze.com,Raysd<\/em>, and\u00a0Just Between Us<\/em>. Her writing for\u00a0Christianity Today<\/em>\u2018s\u00a0This Is Our City\u00a0<\/em>project won first prize from the National Evangelical Press Association. Sarah\u2019s memoir\u00a0The Invisible Girls\u00a0<\/em>is scheduled to be released by Jericho Books in 2013. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Editor\u2019s Note: The following post is by the lovely Sarah Thebarge. Write that name down. You will want to remember it for 2013 when her book, The Invisible Girls (Jericho Books) is released. Sarah is one of the finest writers I\u2019ve ever had the honor to read. Trust me when I tell you that her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2263,3059,3950,3588,3951,3949,3589,3952,3595,3587],"class_list":["post-4950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-author","tag-breast-cancer","tag-breast-cancer-awareness","tag-jericho-books","tag-medical-professional","tag-pink","tag-sarah-thebarge","tag-somali","tag-the-invisible-girls","tag-wendy-grisham"],"yoast_head":"\n
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