While spending the summer in Ontario, Canada, I noticed many women with the same pink key chains. Attached to their keys is a pink string with four cascading balls, from small to large. After seeing it on several occasions, I felt there had to be something to these key chains, so I finally asked a woman about it. She told me that it was her Thingamaboob. Her what?
She explained that she is a breast cancer survivor and a Thingamaboob helps remind women about the importance of regular mammograms. The largest bead indicates how big the lump (a size of a cherry tomato) needs to be for you to feel it during a self-exam on your breasts. The smallest bead indicates that if you have regular mammograms, then a lump (the size of an apple seed) can be picked up at its early stage. As we all know, the earlier the detection, the greater the chance of survival. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Thingamaboob reminds women to have a mammogram every two years if they are between fifty and sixty-nine years of age, although in the United States, the American Breast Cancer Society recommends that anyone over thirty have an annual mammogram.
I have noticed, through my mother-in-law and this kind stranger, that there is, understandably, a clear sense of pride that comes from surviving breast cancer. My mother-in-law, Betty, shares her experience and supports Breast Cancer Awareness by wearing the pink ribbon symbol every chance she gets. I know that she will want her own Thingamaboob, if not for herself, at least so that strangers can ask her what it represents.
