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![Tonia Welsh (center) and other employees from Phoenix Printing wore their "fight like a girl" shirts Thursday. Breast cancer survivors said they embrace the humorous aspects of the shirts. Jackie Ricciardi/Staff](http://chronicle.augusta.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/editorial/images/spotted/79/795939.jpg "Tonia Welsh (center) and other employees from Phoenix Printing wore their "fight like a girl" shirts Thursday. Breast cancer survivors said they embrace the humorous aspects of the shirts. Jackie Ricciardi/Staff")
![Tonia Welsh (center) and other employees from Phoenix Printing wore their "fight like a girl" shirts Thursday. Breast cancer survivors said they embrace the humorous aspects of the shirts. Jackie Ricciardi/Staff](http://chronicle.augusta.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/editorial/images/spotted/79/795899.jpg "Tonia Welsh (center) and other employees from Phoenix Printing wore their "fight like a girl" shirts Thursday. Breast cancer survivors said they embrace the humorous aspects of the shirts. Jackie Ricciardi/Staff")
![Breast cancer survivor Christina Lowry put a "save the ta-tas" bumper sticker on her car. File/Staff](http://chronicle.augusta.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/editorial/images/spotted/79/795940.jpg "Breast cancer survivor Christina Lowry put a "save the ta-tas" bumper sticker on her car. File/Staff")
![Breast cancer survivor Christina Lowry put a "save the ta-tas" bumper sticker on her car. File/Staff](http://chronicle.augusta.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/editorial/images/spotted/79/795898.jpg "Breast cancer survivor Christina Lowry put a "save the ta-tas" bumper sticker on her car. File/Staff")
If the jaw cavitation/breast tumor connection research is correct the problem will be pretty well fixed and the dental surgeons will be real busy. Thermography will reveal if there is a cavitation and it also can see a tumor years before mammograms.
When a friend in Tonia Welsh's office started selling shirts in the name of breast cancer awareness, Mrs. Welsh had to have one.
It had a pink ribbon, but the shirt also had a slogan that said so much more: "Fight like a girl."
"It caught my attention," said Mrs. Welsh, the office manager at Phoenix Printing in Augusta. She was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, at age 37.
The phrase, while attention-getting, is one of the more demure rallying cries for breast cancer survivors and advocates.
Others range from cheeky ("save the ta-tas"), to brazen ("save a life, grope your wife").
"You see them everywhere," said Lisa Bryant, a breast cancer survivor and the American Cancer Society's community manager in Augusta. "Speaking as a woman who has had breast cancer, there are a lot of different ways to talk about awareness."
The campaigns are often driven by a younger generation learning to deal with breast cancer.
"There's an edginess to it," she said. "It de-stigmatizes it. It takes it out of the 'poor her' realm and focuses instead on how we can prevent it. It's about activism, really."
More than 200,000 "Save the ta-tas" T-shirts have been sold, raising $340,000 for research, said the brand's creator, Julia Fikse.
The fashion designer started selling the shirts five years ago. Her grandmother had lost both breasts to cancer. In 2004, her husband's aunt was diagnosed.
"That settled it. We had to do something," said Mrs. Fikse, 37. "We settled on the T-shirts when we realized that in the midst of all of our sadness, we got a chuckle about boobs."
Not everyone did at first.
"In the beginning it was hard. I would take the products around to show people, and they weren't sure. It almost felt disrespectful," she said. "People would say I just can't laugh about this."
Breast cancer survivors disagreed. "Amazingly enough, they were the first people to support us," she said.
Mrs. Fikse watched mind-sets shift as her shirts, and shirts like them, have become popular.
"All the nurses wear them," said Christy Wilson, of Beech Island, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April. She wears a "fight like a girl" T-shirt she got at University Hospital. "My family members have them. Anything that makes people talk will help women remember to get checked."
People do talk.
There's an attention-getting slogan used by the Kelly Rooney Foundation, named for a Philadelphia woman. They sell shirts that say "Save Second Base." The front of the shirt features two strategically placed baseballs.
And then there are the shirts Christina Lowry Dezutter makes. She's a breast cancer survivor diagnosed in 2006 at age 27. She gives shirts to women going through chemotherapy that read: "I'm too sexy for my hair."
"I'm a huge supporter of others going down the road that I have already traveled," said Mrs. Dezutter. "Some of us can't keep our hair. We can't keep our breasts. But we can keep our sense of humor."
Reach Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.
GET YOUR OWN
- Order a catalog of "Save the ta-tas" wear at www.savethetatas.com.
- Find T-shirts at www.save2ndbase.com.
- "Real Men Wear Pink" and "Fight Like A Girl" T-shirts are available at fightlikeagirlshirts.com.
Comments
If the jaw cavitation/breast tumor connection research is correct the problem will be pretty well fixed and the dental surgeons will be real busy. Thermography will reveal if there is a cavitation and it also can see a tumor years before mammograms.
My wife and I have been purchasing "Save the Ta-Tas" stuff since inception. We get our stuff from a store in Savannah on River Street.
I am a survivor, and sometimes you have got to be humorous about it to get through it. When I was 26 and going through it, I called myself the one tit wonder when I lost my breast. Humor is a good healing agent. I love the ideas that these ladies have come up with for breast cancer awareness.
Good one DMC.
In response to this MSN article I wrote this short poem.
http://social.entertainment.msn.com/movies/blogs/the-hitlist-blogpost.as...
I hope you find it entertaining =)
Breast Health
I tried to come up with a rhyme
I felt it would take up to much time.
I'm at work trying to make a dime.
But, when your headlights shine
...and your looking ow so fine,
I feel like a drank a big glass of wine.
They say it's good for my Heart
I understand they where kinda smart
Like an aerobics work-out.
I wanna jump up and down and shout.
"They've removed all doubt!"
Yes! it's been scientifically proven,
That staring at the," Mystical Mountains"
Without even Movin'
Can extend the Life of MEN
Please forgive me for my sin?
So, I use a little Rhythm and Stealth
As I try and improve my Health
By looking at your top Shelf
Please ,don't think me meek
For stealing a peek.
For I wanna feel Strong!
So, now listen to my Song,
The title of which is "DUSTED"
I sure Hope I dont get "BUSTED"
"But, I won't waste my Breath.
I let actions Speak."
"I VISUALIZE,
Embrace the progress,"
"Chin High, Pork Chest
I step right 2 It."
"The Choice is
There is no Choice
but, to pursue it."
"SOUL on the mind"
"Mind on the Soul"
"My Struggle remains
but, my inside Grows"
So forgive as I turn my head real slow.See More
I followed up with this little gem.
Ok, taking it yet to another level.
So jump up and down
And make a happy sound.
For all things round.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLeCcbbI_Os&feature=youtube_gdata
So Men,
With October right around the corner...
Lets remember to do our part and donate to a cause that not only,
Helps to save women's lives. It extends our very one lives as well.
May we all live long and prosper.
I posted the previous 3 postings on my FaceBook page Saturday night. I have only recently Joined the "Cause".
I was so proud of my rhyme this song came to mind.
FREDDIE MAC ah make ya
The DADDIE MAC make ya
JUMP! JUMP!
Uh Hu! Uh hu !!!
some of them try to rhyme but they can't rhyme like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN8WeadBW1o&feature=youtube_gdata
Just another great video...
Featuring yep you guessed it.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh51d_robert-palmer-addicted-to-love_music
This was my Daily God wants you to know for saturday.:)
On this day, God wants you to know ... that it's okay to ask for help. Sometimes we get overwhelmed with the details and complexities of our lives. Sometimes we need some help to get untangled, to gain a new perspective. Ask for help. Help may come in human or divine form. It may be seen or unseen. Ask, and ye shall receive.
My response was:
O Lord, thank you for each and everyday.
I pray that this day brought a smile to you.
I thank you for the new prospective I was
Blessed with today.
I simply ask you help add 5 years to 10 years to my life ; -)
...Ahhhhmennnnn =)
lol hehe.
Todays: On this day, God wants you to know is ...
that you cannot free yourself from a problem by shutting your eyes to it. To free yourself from a problem you have to acknowledge it and face it with your eyes and heart open.
My resopnse is:
Open your mind,
Press rewind,
not Pause.
...I have joined a cause.
It's coming up this Fall.
So, go check out my wall.
I like to think of them as art
I hold them close to my Heart
So, as I "OPEN" my eyes
Lets shoot for the Grand Prize
Of Saving Lives.
Sincerely, With Warmest regards and Well Wishes,
Fred Corley of Tallahassee Florida.
If you care to keep up with future postings
Supporting the cause of Breast Cancer Awareness
A few posts ago I wrote a poem
Titled,"Breast Health"
the link at the bottom had a video that has been removed..
I found a replacement link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFU34qeC8L0
It's the lyrics not the offical video I was using as motivation.
and now the lateset poem
I have a pic of my pink Bracelet
it says,"I love Boobies"
Pink
Whether they are rinky dink
or are the kind that make us
Blink...Blink...Blink
I'll just shoot you a wink
Hoping your's are in the PINK.
With this month of October
Being the Month of Awareness
I felt like sharin this
It's a link supporting those things
you support in a Bra.
So this Fall, do not
Stall or Hesitate.
Do it yourself or with your mate
You don't have to wait to have them mashed
inbetween those plates...
Be the Master of your Fate
And Know what state their in.
As in, A Self Inspection
http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/tests.html
Early detection...that's the key
Between you and me
I wished you'd all had been made with 3
tehehehe... just a joke
But, seriously..this is no laughing matter.
I'm just trying to amp up the chatter
about this subject...
http://www.nbcam.org/
like the text on those shirts say
" Protect Second Base"
Or
"Fight like a Girl"
We used to have a saying in the 6th grade about
working for the "FBI"
"When I grow-up I wanna work for the FBI!"
That's short for
Female
Body
Inspector's
So guy's for the sake of their live
Make you up an cheesey little card on a post card
with a felt tip maker F B I
and once a month pull it out and
("save a life, grope your wife").
Well, that's all I have to say
my pens out of ink.
except to say I hope you
all stay in the PINK.
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