Dis-ease

On Friday night I went to my niece's soccer game - she plays for the University of Utah. The game was the culmination of the U's Breast Cancer Awareness Week.

If you wore pink, you got in free - they handed out pink megaphones, and during half-time the announcer made this announcement -

"It is important that all women receive mammograms and do monthly self-breast examinations. Thank you all for your participation during this week's Breast Cancer Awareness Week. It is important that we all do what we can to get rid of this awful disease."

OUCH!!! Ladies and Gentlemen - I have an announcement for you -

BREAST CANCER IS NOT A DISEASE

I yelled, this out, ending with a Dammit (which my son didn't appreciate, in front of the grandchildren). However, I think restrained - I should have used a louder voice and a much harsher word of emphasis. 

Now others may disagree, but to me the definition of a disease is something someone catches due to an autoimmune disorder, a weakness in health, an infection, a virus. Cancer may (and I use this term very lightly) be genetically "caught," cancer cells are abnormal cells, and I could "catch" cancer if I maybe smoked 4 packs a day, etc. 

But I did nothing wrong - I did not, do not, have a disease. I had cells that freaked out, morphed into abnormal cells, and these cells were cancerous (in my humble opinion). 

So no - I'm not contagious; I'm not a carrier; you can hug me; you can even touch my bodily fluids and still not "catch" cancer from me. 

Damn it -