The hashtag #BreastCancerRealityCheck is currently used on Twitter to add some reality to the pink ribbon party the breast cancer awareness month October seems to have evolved into.
Awareness what breast cancer may mean for weightlifting:
1. Dealing with continued swelling due to an interrupted lymph system: learning lymph massage, learning kineseo taping, having to wear compression shirts, avoiding upper body strength exercises, or any exercises that lead to increased swelling. Lymphedema sleeves are not allowed in competitions.
2. One may need to argue about long sleeve compression shirts in competitions. They are allowed according to IWF rules, although not everybody knows this.
3. Getting a Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE), since breast cancer drugs are on the forbidden list in and out of competition.
4. Suffering through side effects of said breast cancer drugs that will lead to inferior performance in weightlifting.
5. Figuring out clothes: women's don't fit after a mastectomy, and men's can be too wide in the shoulders while being too narrow in the waist.
6. Being grateful for any services that are offered at no cost. Out-of-pocket health care related costs amounted to close to $5000 this year.
7. Of the 221 women registered at the World Masters Weightlifting Championship, 27 (=1 in 8 is the rate reported for US women) are expected to get invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. Little do they know. Bad things happen even with positive thinking, healthy life styles, or low cancer risk.
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