On February 11th, lavender ribbons were sold to Woodland students in the Hawk Nest for one dollar, in honor of National Cancer Awareness Day.
The idea was brought up in Fall when students of the Woodland Regional Student Council thought there should be a day where attention and support is shown to all types of cancer. This day was originally scheduled to take place on February 4th and students were encouraged to wear lavender and to purchase ribbons being sold. However, due to the snow on February 4th, the day changed to the 11th. The goal of selling these ribbons was to make people more aware of this serious issue.
“Cancer affects everyone and people need to realize how big of a problem it is to our population,” said WRSC adviser, Christopher Tomlin.
Cancer Awareness Day was created to bring awareness to all types of cancer, even the less common types of cancer. Many people know of someone with breast cancer or leukemia, but have you ever heard of anyone that has had Bronchial Tumors or maybe Intraocular Melanoma? Odds are you have not because these are both rare types of cancers that are less common however; they affect thousands of people every day.
Did you know that when you are laying out all summer, going to the beach with your best friends, and working on your perfect tan you are putting yourself at a high risk of skin cancer? Skin cancer is a cancer that can easily be prevented, yet over 200,000 people need to be treated with surgery for melanoma every year. Skin cancer is one of hundreds of cancers that need more attention in order to help people learn about preventions and gain knowledge on the subject.
The goal of Cancer Awareness Day is to help people realize that there are hundreds of cancers that are completely different and to show how they affect people through families, friends, or as a population in whole. Although Cancer Awareness Day was made to bring attention to the different types of cancer, it also was created to expose how large of a problem cancer really is.
Studies show that cancer is the fastest growing problem affecting Earth’s population. Every day, about 4,200 people are diagnosed with cancer. Multiply that by 365 days and that is over 1.5 million people every year hearing the heartbreaking news that they have cancer.
This day was made for people to see that cancer is not to be taken lightly and more people should be aware of how easily one can put them-self in danger of getting cancer. Hopefully, the WRSC’s World Cancer Awareness Week has helped the students of Woodland to see cancer as the large problem that it is, and has inspired them to learn more about preventions, different types, and how it affects not only people with cancer, but also everyone around them.
