A couple of years ago it was our bra color. This past week, it’s been a heart. Over the years, women have used social media to raise awareness about breast cancer, which is helpful and necessary. But a viral image of lemons has done far more. By showing examples of what breast cancer may look like, this movement on social media has helped women more than hearts and pink ribbons and bra colors ever have.
As much as annual mammograms are crucial in detecting breast cancer, self-exams are just as important, if not more so. In fact, the National Breast Cancer Foundation recommends women perform a self-exam at least once a month. The problem is, often times women aren’t sure what to look for or how to properly do them.
The viral image shows several warning signs such as a growing vein, a retracted nipple, and indentation. Created by Corrine Ellsworth Beaumont from London, England on knowyourlemons.com and later shared on World Breast Cancer’s Facebook page, the lemons have shown women everywhere what exactly they can look for as they perform self-exams.
But it wasn’t until a Facebook user by the name of Erin Smith Chieze shared the image that it really started to go viral. Chieze advocates for the sharing of real, true facts to spread awareness about breast cancer, saying, “We need to give REAL information, not cute hearts.” She also credits an image similar to this one for saving her own life:
“Someone once posted a picture on Facebook of what breast cancer can look like. Not feel, but look like. In December of 2015 when I saw an indentation that looked like one of those pictures, I instantly knew I had breast cancer. I tried to feel for a tumor, but my tumor was non palpable. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 days later and with stage 4 the following month.”
With the alarmingly high number of women who will develop breast cancer (1 in 8 according to the American Cancer Society), her own story of detection is powerful. Women need to be educated to protect themselves, and that requires far more than hearts and pink ribbons on Facebook.
We need to take this message seriously.
Don’t think it can’t happen to you. The American Cancer Society predicts that in 2017, 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed and 40,610 women will die from this disease. That number is gut-wrenching. These are our mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sisters, and girlfriends. And ourselves.
So let’s use this opportunity to do more for our bodies. Perform monthly self-exams in the shower, in front of a mirror, and lying down. Wherever you can, whenever you can.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation says if self-examining in the shower, move your hand around the entire breast in a circular motion, checking for any lumps or knots. Checking in front of a mirror helps you look for skin discoloration, swelling, dimpling, or puckering. And examining the breast while lying down should be done similarly to the shower exam — circular motions. (You can read more at the Breast Cancer Foundation’s website for a comprehensive step-by-step guide to self-exams.)
Thank you to Corrine Ellsworth Beaumont and to Erin Smith Chieze for your efforts in educating women. We need to self-advocate and care for ourselves as we fight this disease together. So let’s all get to know our lemons, okay?