Courtesy of Noreen Fraser Foundation
Men for Women Now has drawn some big-name support. Left to right is the nonprofit's vice president Michelle McBride and founder Noreen Fraser hamming it up with celebs Melissa Etheridge, Russell Brand and Helen Mirren
Michelle McBride, of Glencoe, Ill., certainly understands the pain that comes with breast cancer. Her grandmother, two aunts and a cousin were diagnosed with it, and all but one aunt died.
McBride herself tested positive for BRCA 2, the breast cancer gene believed to increase a woman's risk for breast and ovarian cancer. She decided that, for her, the best preventative choice was to undergo a prophylactic double mastectomy and hysterectomy.
While making the painful decision, her husband, Jim supported her every step of the way.
"We very much made this decision together because it affected both of us," McBride said. "He was by my side for everything."
When McBride told a friend and colleague, Noreen Fraser, about her husband's support, Fraser shared a similar story. She is a breast cancer survivor currently battling stage IV cancer, and founder of the Noreen Fraser Foundation based in Los Angeles, which advocates for breast cancer research. Fraser said her husband had also been there through every doctor's appointment, chemo treatment and tough decision.
That's when the idea for the foundation's "Men for Women Now" campaign was born. The woman wanted to provide a forum for men to support each other while helping their wives, girlfriends, sisters and mothers fight breast cancer.
Men for Women Now quickly garnered some high–profile help from actors Russell Brand, Neil Patrick Harris, Zach Galifianakis and many others. Funnyman Jack Black jokingly got a mammogram on camera to show easy it is.
"All of us guys, dudes, and bro–imgos are getting off our lazy butts and making appointments for our beloved ladies to meet with this bad boy," Jack Black said in the video while pointing to a mammogram machine.
As part of ongoing fundraising efforts, Men for Women Now is partnering with Chicago–based Threadless, an online T–shirt design company created by Crown Point grad Jake Nickell, to raise money through a T–shirt design challenge. Threadless asked artists to create a design that will provide awareness and also some comic relief during a tough time.
"This is a very unique way to enter the artistic community," said McBride. "Threadless is asking its followers to think about breast cancer and how they can express that. I think the impact will be spectacular."
For the past few weeks, artists have submitted 121 designs onThreadless.com. Nov. 13 is the last day people can vote on a favorite. After the winning design is chosen, the printed T–shirt will be sold, with 25 percent of sales going to the Noreen Fraser Foundation.
"The chance for our community to engage in a really fun, off–beat approach to the really somber topic of breast cancer was really a good fit for our community," said Cam Balzer, the vice president of marketing for Threadless.
The winning artist will receive a cash and prize pack including an iPad 2.
The Noreen Fraser Foundation uses money raised to support research efforts including new prevention methods such as medicine and nontoxic therapies.
McBride, 39, vice president of the foundation, said she's optimistic about the future of breast cancer research, and her own future as well. On Dec. 11, she and her husband will be going out to celebrate her good health. Specifically, it will be the first time in three generations in her family a daughter is living longer than her mother did. Her own mother died of pancreatic cancer at age 39.
"I want to be around to watch my children grow, watch them graduate high school, go off to college, get married and have children -- all things that my mother and my grandmother missed out on," McBride wrote in a journal she kept during her surgeries.
Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/get-healthy/newsletter-featured-story/nonprofit-uses-humor-and-celebrity-for-breast-cancer-awareness/article_18a3d88c-50bb-594f-8185-5da294d84dcc.html#ixzz1dKjmMWK6
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