The Scar Project, Canada

http://l.facebook.com/l/9AQEGsrlTAQE-uFRF_IU-yNQPow-khCqSq1mB_R47Un_lPA/blog.thebreastcancersite.com/scar-project-canada-portraits/?utm_source=social-paid&utm_medium=bcsfan-kw-cpc&utm_campaign=scar-project-canada-portraits&utm_term=20150213

A lovely, well meaning friend sent this to me today.  The Scar Project is something that seems to be travelling everywhere.

But you know, I think I don't really get it.  I understand that the women who took part feel empowered and I guess that if this is the only outcome of this project, that is a good one.  I also understand that it might make people more sympathetic to breast cancer patients and (the word that I hate) 'survivors'.  To see what they're living with underneath their clothes might be shocking.  I certainly had never seen such photos before I had the disease.  It might have helped me to imagine how I would be and maybe show me that there are other people who have been through it and are living with the after effects.  Or they might have made me very frightened.

The thing I appreciated most in the commentary in the film was a woman saying that once the disease is over people think that life is back to normal and that, yes, there were normal times when she felt normal, but mostly there were times when she felt she had been through something very powerful and that living with the scars was frequently difficult and not normal at all.  That I do get, I understand.

My friends look at me and tell me how healthy I look, how lovely my eyes are, my skin, my smile.  I am glad for those compliments, truly, and in fact there is a shot on this video where the camera focuses on an attractive woman's face and then slowly pans down to her ravaged chest.  So I think I am starting to believe my friends, that people look at your face first and yes I know nobody sees my breasts and the scars and the ugliness (and mine are not as ravaged as some of those on the photos so there's something to be grateful for).  But, I know what's underneath and I am the one to look at it in the mirror and hide it from my husband.  I'm the one who won't be showing it on the beach this summer.

In fact, I also chanced up this news item whilst I was looking for an image: Facebook allows post-mastectomy photos.  This is thanks to a petition started because the Scar Project photographer wasn't allowed to post the Scar Project photos and share them with the world on FB.  "sharing photos can help raise awareness about breast cancer and support the men and women facing a diagnosis, undergoing treatment, or living with the scars of cancer," it said.  Good on you.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/facebook-allows-postmastectomy-photos-following-petition/story-e6frfro0-1226662990480

"By removing the photos, Facebook is sending us a message that our struggle with this disease should be kept in the dark."  Absolutely.

The last word has to come from my son, however.  He saw what I was looking at on the computer writing this post and asked what it was.  I explained that some women have to lose their breasts when they have cancer.  At first he said 'is that what you're going to have to do?'  I reassured him, no. (let's hope eh?)  And he said, with the innocence and honesty that only a child can have 'in your head Mummy you should feel glad because yours aren't as bad as some of those ladies.'  So, in my head, glad it is then son........