I haven’t written a blog post in a while. I set out to write one today and saw that I had a comment from Jenn (see below) on an old blog post entitled: Komen Please Leave Me Alone
Here is Jen’s comment – I just had to share (you will find my response to Jen below her comment).
| Jenn |
Submitted on 2012/10/09 at 8:18 PM
Truly sorry that you had an awful experience with NY Komen. That never should have happened – and wouldn’t happen at many other affiliates. I am confused though. Do you want the money to go to patient assistance or to research? Yes Komen ONLY gives 20-25% to research because the other 75% is granted out to the local communities. And Komen gives more to breast cancer research than any other group outside of the government. As for not getting finanicial assistance to help you that depends on the grants in the area. If no one applies for a grant to do this then what is Komen supposed to do? I agree “For the Cure” is misleading but who knew 25 years ago how complex breast cancer was. We all hoped for a quick and easy cure – now we know with science that it will take more. As for the emails from Komen – I suggest you use the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email and then they won’t bother you anymore and you won’t have to complain about it anymore without knowing what really goes on… |
Panera Bread is supporting Dr. Susan Love’s Army of Women – Good for them! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hello Jen,
I think you are the one that doesn’t know what you are talking about. First of all, Komen does NOT give “20-25% to research”. Your numbers are wrong. To answer your question: “Do you want the money to go to patient assistance or to research?” here is my answer: I want Komen to stop being a fraud. I want Komen to stop claiming to be “for a cure” when they are not – no organization that puts more than 80% of raised funds to things OTHER than research can claim that they are “for a cure” for cancer. That just doesn’t add up. I want Komen to stop misleading all of us. And, I want Komen to stop claiming that they help patients with their treatment costs when in fact you can’t ever get anyone to call them back – ever.
You need to read more carefully – Komen’s marketing people are emailing me directly – they use the email contact through this blog to contact me. It is not the email list that bothers me – you can unsubscribe from that once you find out that all Komen wants is your money. The emails from Komen that I am referring to are the ones that they send to me directly through this blog – from their PR and Media people trying to get me to stop telling the truth about Komen. That is despicable. They never answered a single phone call, never returned answered or returned any calls when I called their patient support line over 100 times – but when I complain about that publicly and call Komen out for who they are – I get email after email from their PR and Media people. Just a little disingenuous don’t you think?
You don’t know what you are talking about. I haven’t found a single chapter of Komen that has anyone that will take your call or return your call from “patient assistance” – if you ask me – it simply does not exist.
Anyway, the NFL and others have figured out that Komen is NOT worthy of support. Haven’t you noticed that with many large organizations Komen has been replaced (the NFL supports The American Cancer Society now – they dumped Komen this year). Many other organizations have followed suit. Now when I see a pink ribbon on a cup at Panera Bread I smile because I know that the money is going to something worthwhile – Dr. Susan Love’s Army of Women.
I am thrilled to see that Komen’s stronghold is starting to diminish. I was one of several people that asked for Nancy Brinker to step down. I know she is still there – but she has been rightfully shamed.
I am glad that you agree that “For the Cure” is misleading. Komen is misleading and they only respond when their is huge public outcry. It used to be when I criticized Komen that people would take offense (I am in Orange County where Komen boasts one of its largest chapters) but, now times have changed. Most people I talk to now are on to Komen. No one likes it when they hear that according to Reuters only 14% of the money Komen raised went to research. In fact it is making people pretty angry. It is nice to see that the climate here in Orange County has changed. It is making room for organizations that really do help people get funds. Komen is losing ground and I would like to think that I have been a part of that – that is awareness – making friends and family and blog readers aware of what Komen is really about.
Your last sentence: “unsubscribe . . . and then they won’t bother you anymore and you won’t have to complain about it anymore without knowing what really goes on” is priceless. YOU clearly don’t know what “really” goes on – what really goes on is that Komen only donated 14% of the money they raised in 2011 to research. You can claim all you want that Komen donates more money to research than any other organization but the truth is that they pocket the money and dump it in to salaries and “awareness” and “education” (whatever that is). People are dying. The fact that Komen only used 14% of the funds that good hearted peopled donated “for a cure” to actual research is despicable. They have taken the lion’s share of the money raised for breast cancer research, and instead of putting it towards research, that money goes to six figure salaries, pink-porta-potties, pink golf carts and failing races for the cure.
‘nough said.
cancerfree2b 