Pink in the Rink!!

We have a minor league hockey team here, the Mississippi Sea Wolves.

They have a game coming up,, "Pink in the Rink" night. The players will be wearing pink jersies that night and the jersies will be auctioned off after the game and the proceeds will go to,,you guessed it... BREAST CANCER!! What am i?? The dirty ba$ta** of cancer.

I fired off a copy of Lori Hopes letter to the team owner and got a satisfactory response.

The email

Being a lung cancer survivor during "Pink in the Rink" night makes you feel not only like a second-class hockey fan, but also a nasty, guilty one for feeling angry and jealous. How could anyone fault breast cancer for receiving so much attention, funding, support, and sympathy when it strikes one in eight women and kills up to 13% of them within five years?

But lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer, and takes nearly twice as many lives annually as breast cancer. And although lung cancer is stigmatized -- it's been described as the "serves-you-right cancer" -- very few people know that 15% of its victims never smoked at all, And few know that the tobacco industry spends billions each year marketing its poison to our youth, and that drug addicts say cigarettes are harder to kick than heroin.

Ours is the least funded of all the major cancers, even though it kills 85% of us within five years of diagnosis, as compared to breast cancer, which is, thankfully, 98% curable when caught early.

Our ribbon does not have a pretty color. In fact it has no color at all. It's invisible. Literally: Lung cancer advocates designated a clear ribbon for it, because that's how it's perceived by most people. But Sandy and the 160,000 others who died of the disease last year -- and the hundreds of thousands more who loved them -- must not remain invisible


Next year, during Lung Cancer Awareness Month, please recognize all of us impacted by this disease. I know you'll be sick of hearing about cancer by then, but think for a moment what it's like to be diagnosed with lung cancer, and how much it would mean to us to know that you care






seMPer Fi,

Dave

And their response.

Mr. Cerami,



Thank you for your support of Sea Wolves Hockey and thank you for sharing your thoughts about our Pink in the Rink game on Saturday, February 7th.



On June 29, 1987, my grandmother passed away from adenocarcinoma of the lung. Much like many others who are touched by the disease she had never ingested any tobacco products and generally lived a healthy life. I certainly understand the affect that lung cancer can have on a family. I also commend you on your fight to beat the cancer and hope that it is something that you do not have to face again.



The Sea Wolves try very hard to support numerous non-profit organizations in various ways each year. Whether large or small, monetarily or voluntarily, we feel an obligation to participate in as many charitable efforts as possible. Unfortunately, there many worthy causes that we can not reach.



I have made note to not only recognize breast cancer during our Pink in the Rink game but all cancers including lung. I’ve also noted that we will recognize lung cancer awareness month during our games next November.



We hope that you can join us on February 7th and we wish you the best health in the future.



Sincerely,

Bill Yates

228.388.6151

ps: When they are wearing their pretty pink jersies I hope they get their a$$ handed to them that night :)



seMPer fidelis

Dave