August 1, 2010
PINK BOOTS FOR THE PURE CURE
 Imagine a world without breast cancer, a world where breast cancer doesn’t have to be cured because it has been eliminated by prevention. Imagine what a relief this would be for millions of women and the men who love them. One less hassle in a world full of them, and one more step toward peace of mind. Imagine.
I know that Breast Health & Healing is just a small foundation, barely two years old. But we have high hopes for bringing this imagined world to life. The process of bring imagination to life is part of the can-do spirit that makes America great. We’re going to call on it now to help us take breast cancer off the map.
Breast Health & Healing is committed to discovering the causes of breast cancer and using this knowledge to prevent the disease - the Pure Cure, as I like to call it. With this vision in mind, we are launching our first national campaign. We’ve chosen a pair of boots to represent our mission to find the Pure Cure and we’ve dyed them pink. The Pink Boots for the Pure Cure represent our quest to find a better way out of the breast cancer mess, to protect women from ever getting the disease. For those who, unfortunately, have already had breast cancer, we want to help you, too. We want to prevent it from coming back.
The Pink Boots for the Pure Cure are Belleville 330, made in the USA, the footwear worn by United States Naval aviators. You may recall the photo of the Golden Warriors, an elite squadron of pilots that appeared on our website two years ago. The photo was taken on the flight deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The aviators stood in front of their FA/18 Hornets, proudly displaying Breast Health & Healing t-shirts under their flight suits. These brave Americans, who both carry out their mission and support ours, were the inspiration for the Pink Boots for the Pure Cure. Now we’re going to put our boots to work and here’s how we’re going to do it.
The Pink Boots for the Pure Cure will tour the country so that those who support the Pure Cure can have their photograph taken wearing them. The photographs will be posted on the Breast Health & Healing website and on a Facebook wall created especially for them. We’ll keep track of their location on our social networking sites to let everyone know where they are and whose wearing them. By the way, we are more interested in photographing breast cancer survivors and supporters than in photographing celebrities - though a photo shoot with Oprah or Ellen would certainly be nice! I wonder who will be first, Oprah or Ellen? Who would you choose, and why?
The shoelaces used in each photograph will be made into a piece of jewelry or a work of art and then auctioned on eBay, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to support the work of the foundation. In the spirit of accountability I’d like to point out that the money donated from the Pink Boots for the Pure Cure will be used to fund the research of Drs. Beatriz Pogo, Polly Etkind, and Paul Levine, innovative scientists researching the breast cancer virus. The results of their research has been certified by rigorous studies and has been published in peer-reviewed journals, but due to the economic slowdown funding for their innovative research has been severely reduced. They need our help and they’re going to get it! You can be proud that the funds donated from the Pink Boots for the Pure Cure will help these pioneers as they work to answer the question; does a virus cause breast cancer in women?
We hope the Pink Boots for the Pure Cure will become as famous as the Nike swoosh and, in the process, will help renew, revitalize, rejuvenate, restore, and rekindle a passion for preventing breast cancer. Furthermore, we are confident that those who support our mission by wearing the Pink Boots for the Pure Cure for a photograph or an event will us change the course of breast cancer history.
There is a better way. Prevention is the better way. It just makes sense. It’s more efficient. It’s a better investment in our future. It’s a better investment in our children’s future. Prevention is the right thing to do. It’s more balanced than simply trying to put out breast cancer fires once they’ve started. Treatment is simply not enough. We need prevention!
The time for the Pure Cure is now. Imagine. The Pink Boots for the Pure Cure will take us there.
Regards,
Kathleen T. Ruddy, MD
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