CUT FOR CANCER

Well yesterday my husband had his beautiful hair shaved off for a fundraiser that raises money for people in Yarmouth that are facing a cancer diagnosis. To receive treatments, Yarmouth residents must travel to our capital city of Halifax which is a 3.5 hour drive, which means there are a lot of associated costs. One of the organizers of the fundraiser as recently as this week lost her mother to cancer so it was a very emotional day.

The before

My husband works as a Manager in a Long Term Care Facility, so to make this event entertaining for the residents they turned it in to a play which included a lot of laughs and joking around to make light of the seriousness of the real reason behind the fundraiser. Some shaved their heads completely, and others donated their hair for wigs for Chemotherapy patients.

Cancer is such a devastating disease. We all know either someone that has had it, died from it, or have faced it ourselves. It has no mercy. Prevention is something we can all try to do, but in the end cancer can rear it's ugly head no matter how we try to avoid it.

To me it feels as if Cancer is everywhere. Constantly I am aware of friends who have been recently diagnosed, colleagues that are facing the disease or family members that are undertaking the battle. It seems to be on the rise and I wonder if it is not the environment we are living in. Our food sources are Genetically Modified. Our meat is pumped full of antibiotics and are housed in grotesque conditions. We drink and eat out of plastic containers and food is treated with pesticides and radiated. Processed foods are the norm and we think nothing of throwing a little prepackaged lunch in the microwave. Low cal, high salt. Our air is dirty, our oceans are polluted and we are huge consumers of oil and gas. It's a wonder our bodies even survive.

Now the positive to all this is we are aware, as consumers, of the many different environmental conditions that are existing in the world we live in today. Therefore we have a choice. We can push government to label our foods. We can push our grocers to carry local produce and free range meats. We can make the choice to support our local farmers. We can lobby for reducing food prices so that eating a good healthy diet free of pesticides, antibiotics and GMO is available for everyone regardless of income. We can make the change because it really doesn't have to be this way. We could, as a society choose to make these changes. It just takes a lot of hard work and a government that cares and will listen.

I hope in my lifetime to see cancer cured, and steps taken forward to eradicate some of the causes. What a joy it would be for all of us to band together to change this world for the better. A naïve notion I'm sure, because in the end, it's all about the money, but it is a nice wish all the same.