Pink Day in LA

Hello folks, my name is Master Saji, or just Saji, if you prefer, and today, I'm here to tell you about Burning Dragons of Tyria's, AKA DRGN, future plans for Pink Day in LA (June 16th, 2007) which is to help raise breast cancer awareness.

First off, I'd like point out some small, but crucial facts about Breast Cancer;

Each year, 182,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die. One woman in eight either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In addition, 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die this year. Yes, men can also get breast cancer.

If detected early, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer exceeds 95%.

Now, like I said, we're doing this to raise awareness. "But October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, why in June?" Well, it's a little spontaneous, but the truth is you shouldn't have to wait for one month to help support to breast cancer awareness. We decided June 16th since school will be out and hopefully more people will be willing to help us and more importantly, one of our guild member's mother is a breast cancer survivor and June 16th is her birthday.

Anyway, the big day that this event will take place will be June 16th, 2007, and will be in Lion's Arch International District 1 (and 2 and 3 and so on if need be). Our goal is to get as many people to wear pink armor to show their support as we can in the LA international district. To do this, DRGN members will hand out 1 purple and 1 red dye (a general combo to make a pink-like color) to each person, who (or so we hope), will then dye his/her chest armor pink and join in the merriment.

We want to make Pink Day in LA as much of a success as possible. If you or your guild is interested in helping out, let us know! But the easiest, best, and most appreciated way for you to help is to be in LA on June 16th and either bring pink armor of your own or get pink dye from us, and join us in raising awareness of breast cancer. Expect things to get started around Noon EST.

*UPDATE*We're also starting to collect silver dyes since Red+Silver is another common mixture to get a pinkish color.

The event WILL start at NOON US EST (-4 UTC). When it will end, we cannot say.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reply to this post or email me at, [email protected]



~Saji

Very admirable. I respect what you are doing here, my sister had cancer for 5 years, not breast cancer, but i know the pain it can put a family through.

I wont be able to attend myself, but ill post this message on my guilds forum and try to persuade them all to show up and support you guys.

Good luck.

Will

Hmm, ah see.. Well, you can count on Yellow Braids to be there for a stop over.

My little sister has cancer. So, it personal for me. Yes, I will support ya'. Maybe even pass out a few dyes....

my grandma just beat breast cancer, so i will come

/sigh

I lost a step father to cancer (obviously not breast, though i hear it IS possible for men)

anything i can do to raise awarness of any types of this terrible killer i will do

beside my monk is already a sexy pink /flex

Do what I can to be there, I lost my grandmother to cancer

Thanks for the great support guys! Hopefully we'll get enough people to help spread even more of the word!

I will definately be showing up, Nice idea.

Well, Pwny, as I mentioned in the initial post, we will be handing out at least one pair of red and purple dye so you can at least dye your chest piece a pinkish, so just show up and we'll make sure you get your pink

I have quoted and linked your post on my alliances forum to allow them all to see it.

Ill do my best to make it

I'll come, because I had lost my grandfather because of cancer. Will tell others about thist!

I think it's amazing what you are doing!!! My mom is a breast cancer survivor.

I will definitely make every effort to be there, with one of these 2




no need for dye here

I will be there for sure...I'll tell my guild/alliance about it too.

I will try to be there. Good cause... I will donate 50 red/purple dyes for this cause to ya. PM in game.

Toffin the Dwarf.

Dyes were delivered.

thats great! we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about this event and are hoping to get lots of people to come..

Wow! What a wonderful idea I'll be sure to attend the event. I'll also post about it on my guild forums and try to get more people to come.

Also, just a side note... but sometimes purple + yellow makes a nice pink too!

I have some purple and red dyes to give away. IGN: Insane Guardian.

Very nice idea indeed... lost an uncle to cancer, while another survived. I'll definitely show up if I can log on on that date.

Some chars of mine already have pink armor... so more dyes to give to others .

I'll be sure to be there all pinked up.

I have some dyes to give out too

I lost my mom to breast cancer about 2 years ago. I should be there when the time comes.

Although I like it that you bear a warm heart for breast cancer awareness, there so many other diseases that also need attention. Malaria, many other diseases and traffic kill an equal amount or more people than cancer*

Why more attention to cancer? I guess its personal, but in terms of statistics other diseases (then cancer) would deserve at least the same attention as breast cancer. Cancer is an agonizing way to die, and it has a big impact as death does not come sudden. But I just post this to make u aware that there are many other diseases that deserve attention too. In terms of money, cancer probably is one of the best financed ones. And I think it is time to ponder on this policy. I dont say we need to change it, but the point deserves attention, just contemplate on the hard figures, and try to figure out why.

No need to flame me, I just want to raise the issue and make your brains burn some sugar on it. Succes with the awareness day, I secretly hope u think a few moments of other diseases too. I lost some people dear to me to cancer too, and I still think about them as the pictures are engraved in my mind, the good moments, but unfortunately also the bad moments with the almost inhumane suffering.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate

I will come. I hope my household family never gets affected by cancer.
I dont know how I could live on.

I will come if I will be able to.

None of my family has cancer so I hope there won't be any in the future. I'll come and support... I promise

Il try to be there (my grandma died of cancer) but I cant say for certain if I got time at that date.

no pink armor so yeah :/

Speaking as a woman who's mother just recovered from cancer, you can bet that you have my support... and as a leader of an alliance of 7 guilds, I will do all I can to encourage the membership to be in attendance. Any dyes that I have that can make pink color combinations will be available at that time also.

Look for these guilds within my Alliance that I may be in attendance:

Order of the Dragon and Phoenix [dp]
Tokyo Knights [TK]
Sinners In Heaven [Sin]
The Everchanging Path [lost]
Guild of Falling Stars [GOFS]
Role Players Group [RPG]
Dominion of the Arcane [DOA]

Thank you for such an incredible idea! May it bring awareness to all and encourage us to always be aware of our own bodies, overall health, and check with doctors regularly to omit the chance of it taking us by surprise.

Blessed be to all...

As Tokyo Knights [TK] guild leader my guild and I will definitely be here for this event to help spread awareness and help hand out dyes to those who need.

Awesome Thanks for the Support guys! Hopefully we can get the support of Anet too. If not, having Gaile Gray attend the event would be good enough for me!

i think it is a sweet idea, will hopefully be there

I'm glad to see all this support. I hope everyone who reads this thread will tell as many people as they can about the event, or direct others here to read about it for themselves.

In addition, here is an alternative banner you can use where you see fit.

Master Rayalalalalalalalala is my favorite.

Good news

In Rotterdam (The Netherlands) the researchers made progress on breastcancer research, they found 5 gens that make it more likely for that person to have breastcancer, this way its easier to find out who can get breastcancer because of the inherited gens. Now those persons can be warned for the risk and perhap pay a yearly visit to the doctor if they are very likely to fall to breastcancer.

Yes that is very good news. We are really encouraging people to share information like this and possibly their own exp with breast cancer, if they are comfortable, during the event. We want to educate everyone as much as possible on the matter and the best way is to have a discussion composed of all these different minds.

We want to open eyes and hearts on June 16, so hopefully we can get some nice discussions going in chat durring that day. This way, the learning experience is more interactive and it will have a bigger impact on you than if you were just to read it alone somewhere. Hopefully everyone will walk away that day a little more compassionate and a little more wiser to cherish what they have and never take it for granted.

... Typical. The mods remove any posts from the thread that could possibly be perceived as negative.

Talk about Big Brother style censorship... ¬_¬

In any case... all this cancer awareness stuff might seem all well and good on the surface because 95% of humanity seems to get all weepy on the surface when they hear of other human meatbags suffering.... and then they go eat their lunch and forget about it. Shameless acting, or self-delusion... maybe both.
But that doesn't change the fact that most everyone except those in the middle of nowhere (and probably a few of them too) know at least roughly what Cancer is and that it is very unpleasant. On the flipside, most people also roughly know that they cannot do SQUAT to help fix it.... and even the medical world gets by with chemicals and treatments that are designed to kill things indiscriminately... and just hope they kill the right cells.


So basically.... this all seems a bit morbid to me. What is this going to do really besides remind a whole of lot people that there is still cancer in the world killing some people and requiring bodyparts to be surgically removed from others and that there is not much if anything they can do about it? Are you trying to make people jolly about it? Are you trying to exchange sob-stories? Are you just a bunch of people trying to make yourself out as better than others because you give the semblence of actually caring about others?


*Sighs*

My father died of bone cancer.... and some sort of cancer got his father before him. Chances are that I'll probably die of some sort of cancer unless I top myself first....
Do I care though? Not a shred. People die... It is the inevitable finalé of existence. I got over my father's death easier than some people who barely knew him... and I honestly liked the guy....
But why the heck wax morbid over the whole deal?
You're only going to be hurting yourselves in the long run.


I'm not sure why I'm typing this. It is only going to be deleted by the thought-police anyway.

But for what it is worth.... maybe I should start a special day for Kittens Abandoned by the Roadside. My family's sob-stories of THAT kind would beat any of your cancer stories (being as we have done a lot of cat-rescuing and... well... seen a lot we couldn't rescue).

v_v;

SotiCoto-

Your post was not acrimonious in any way, nor was it an attempt to start a flame war... therefore there shouldn't be a need for a mod to delete your message. I'm glad you took the time to voice your opinion in a thought out and respectful manner.

Having read Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, yes, you are right. People die; so it goes. But the main point of breast cancer awareness events is to get people to check themselves for this form of cancer, which is easily prevented if detected early. Also, yes, most people do already know about breast cancer... but as with any widely discussed topic, there are rumors and misunderstandings abound. One of the things we hope to accomplish will be to answer questions people have about the disease.

For example, I wanted to respond to the poster who reported that genes have been identified that relate to cancer. I just read an article in today's Time (or was it Newsweek... i forget x.x) which talks about how identifying genes is not very reliable, and has yet to really work and accurately predict enhanced chances of succumbing to a particular disease. But then again, your news could be newer than mine. I'll have to look it up myself.

... anyways thats the sort of thing we're going for. Just because there aren't any great cures to cancer does not mean that its not worth talking about and its not worth supporting more research.

p.s.- I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your father. As Vonnegut would say, so it goes.

sorry for double post...

I'd like to request that if anyone happens make a thread of their own telling others about this event on some other forum, please pm me or post a link to it, so we (DRGN) can read it/respond to questions asked if possible. Also its nice to know about any other threads so we can figure out just how well attended this whole thing will be.

Thanks

I got the news from a dutch paper, it didn't say they were already using the gen thing, but atleast they got something to work with :P

Also, the 5 gens, wouldn't mean you get breastcancer, its just more likely to happen to you.

And to Soticoto: The cancer ppl die from at the end of their lives is in my opinion very unpleasant, but not nearly as unpleasant as suffering from breastcancer when you are still "young". And as Rayala says, its an awareness event, not an event to show others you are "better" than the rest because you care for cancer. Though you have a point, some may think so.

I think this is a good idea though, breastcancer is a form of cancer that is perhaps the most frequent, and it often hits people far before their life ends. The event can make people aware of the scale of this disease. Hence it may even stimulate people to go to a medicine-school. It may also serve as a place for people, to indeed tell about the loss of a loved one.

Now for some people it may not work, but for some it will, talking about things can make it easier to live with. Others find it easier not to talk about it and live with it. It is a choice you can make yourself, this event may just bring people together that share this thought.

And a reminder to Master Rayala, there are great cures to cancer ofcourse, they are no wondermedicines that taste like cola and clear the pain immediately. But if you look at how hard it is to deal with cancer, doctors can do a great job on hitting the right cells , as soti coto calls it. In many cases, they don't just kill all the cells, but they hit the right ones, with precision and concentration.

A LOT of people over the world have worked on finding ways to defeat cancer. There are many forms of cancer or places the cancer can be at, and some are still undefeatable even at early stages. However, there are many many more men and women that have been cured of their cancer. Especially in the case of breastcancer the cure gets better even.

Now why do we still need this day then? Because we aren't there yet, its still a very unpleasant cure and for the reasons I stated before.

Thank you for reading and sharing your comments all (and yes that includes you soti)

SotiCoto, you're a very intelligent person and, despite what you say, the pain you went through with your father must have been unimaginable, but what saddens me is the sense of hopelessness that is emanating from your post. You have to realize Soti that not everyone is as headstrong as you and is not willing to accept death so readily. From the remorse that you show towards Kittens, I’m sure that deep down you feel the same remorse for human beings.

In the case of Breast Cancer, the fact that you cannot do "Squat" is not necessarily true. Like Rayala mentioned, in cases of breast cancer, if you can detect it early, it greatly extends the time you have left to live and possibly prevents it. The only way to do this is to become educated about the subject. I can accept the fact that many women lose their lives to Breast cancer each year. I can’t accept however, the number of misdiagnoses that are given each year to women going in for a checkup. Thousands of patients suffering from breast cancer are wrongly diagnosed as suffering from chronic cystic mastitis. Being human, we always hear what we want to hear. No one wants to believe that they have cancer. If a woman finds a suspicious lump on her breast and the doctor tells her that it’s just mastitis, she’ll most likely leave happy never giving a second thought about the lump and never getting a second referral until it’s too late. This form of negligence to me is unacceptable; however, it’s partially our own fault for not following up on our health to the extent that we should, which is why we need to be as aware as possible.

Also, about the part where people go eat lunch and forget about it, Considering that roughly 50% of the human population are women I doubt they will forget anytime soon. Also consider the fact that almost 100% of the human population has some sort of relationship with a woman, whether it’s a girlfriend/wife, a sister, or a mother. And how can women so easily forget about something like this when a majority of them schedule mammograms for themselves? I doubt that any woman walks into the doctor’s office and has no clue as to why she has to get x-rays of her chest.

You are right about 1 thing though Soti, we Are looking for sob-stories, but not for the reasons you think. We want these sob-stories to hit home and hit hard. You see, the moment someone becomes emotionally connected is the moment when they start to become involved and make a difference.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that this is not a lost cause. Breast Cancer awareness month in October saves thousands of lives each year. So why can’t we make with what little influence we have and try to help others in the same way? If by the end of the event, we bought some mother or daughter even 1 extra year to spend with her family, I’ll be happy.

You do realise... don't you.... that mental health is far more root to these things than uniquely physical health.

Honestly speaking... if I had cancer I wouldn't want to know about it. That is among the reasons I don't spend half my time prodding at my parts to see if there are lumps there. I honestly don't want to know.
Now see... my step-grandfather... the person my mother's mother remarried to (and the closest to an actual grandfather I've ever had) managed to get over Malignant Melanoma.... and do you know how?

When the doctors told him he had a few months to live, he basically told them they were talking bollocks and just went on with his life as usual. He got over cancer that should have killed him.


Now it doesn't work in all cases. In many cases it will hit anyway....

But I know I would rather be a perfectly content person for 2 years than a constantly worried and depressed person for 20.
What good is keeping yourself alive if that life is riddled with worry, sorrow and paranoia?


I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the greatest obstacle to human happiness is the inability of most people to be content with the way their life already is, no matter how it is... The more they think in terms of how it could be better, the more pre-occupied they become with how much worse than that it actually is.... which leads to an increasingly self-harming state of mind.
I'm not immune to it myself. I think often of how I wish the spammers and the woefully illiterate could be vanquished from Guild Wars, along with the bots... but thinking like that just leaves me irritated that it isn't so... I only find contentment when I don't think about it, or simply convince myself not to mind.



I somewhat deviate from the point in any case...

I still disapprove of this event.... though it isn't really my business in any real sense. It is giving people things to worry about that might never happen, and they they might be happier not knowing about if it did happen.
The Space-Time continuum.... the Universe from the infinite past to the infinite future is vast many orders of magnitude beyond human comprehension.... and it is essentially all hostile to our existence. Our part in this existence is unfathomably small... and that is the way it should be for our own sakes. Trying to peek out of that.... reach out of that nanocosm... or step out.... will harm us in ways we could never see coming nor really understand. Most of us do it anyway, so why encourage it?


So in essence.... it IS possible for cancer at some levels to be beaten by placebo.... or simply by the attitude that it isn't there at all. The most a person can do toward defeating such things is to live in the perfect knowledge that they are totally healthy.... and their mind will work to make it so.


[Incidentally... did I mention I'm a Nihilist? It might be obvious by now.]
[Edit: As for the thing about cats.... I was practically raised by them. I spent more time with my "feline family" as a kid than I did with my mother... let alone my brother... As such it isn't entirely surprising that I'm much more sympathetic toward feline plight than human plight.]