Red is Trish Fedeyko-Millard's favorite colour. Not pink, she makes a point of emphasizing.
Red is Trish Fedeyko-Millard's favorite colour. Not pink, she makes a point of emphasizing.
Every October she braces for everything to turn pink as part of breast cancer awareness month – everything from T-shirts to mugs, bracelets, teddy bears and cookies.
She appreciates the reminder to the general population – go get those lumps and bumps checked – but it is a difficult month-long remembrance for the two-time cancer survivor.
"Almost everyone loves pink, until they get breast cancer," she says.
Fedeyko-Millard, a Paul Kane grad of '85, was diagnosed in 2006 with ductal carcinoma in situ – the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer.
The cancer was in one breast and three of her lymph nodes. At the age of 37 she had 16 lymph nodes removed, six rounds of chemotherapy and 30 rounds of radiation.
Two years ago she received her second cancer diagnosis – dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, a rare type of soft tissue sarcoma that develops in the deep layers of the skin. The incidence rate is one to five people per million.
"I knew to not be that stupid (after the first time), but with this sarcoma, it came out of complete left field," said Fedeyko-Millard.
"Going through it twice now…it's an everyday battle. You change completely and you never go back to the person, or the life you had before. It's with all of us, forever."
Fedeyko-Millard can no longer do things she did while in treatment – eat certain foods or watch certain TV shows (such as Grey's Anatomy) because it is too painful of a reminder.
Even walking into the Cross Cancer Institute for follow-up appointments is emotional.
"You just get tensed, the hairs on your back go up," she says.
That's why when Fedeyko-Millard donates money; she directs her funds toward improving patient quality of life.
"Research needs to be done, awareness needs to happen, but any money that I donate is going to go directly to the Cross. I don't care if it replaces chairs or puts magazines on the tables … or the sandwiches or juice that go around."
"You need that happy environment. That's what holds a person together."
Fedeyko-Millard believes the colour pink is "used and abused" for breast cancer awareness and research.
Despite having worked as a director of marketing to cover a maternity leave position from 2003 to 2004 with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation before her first diagnosis; Fedeyko-Millard is not a supporter of cause marketing.
Cause-related marketing is a mutually beneficial partnership between for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations, where a portion of sales of special product or service are donated to the cause.
Fedeyko-Millard cautions people to read up on the cause they are donating to. Specifically for breast cancer charities, she urges people to question how much money goes toward supporting research versus administration.
"A pink mug costs you $10 with $1.00 going to breast cancer – at least $.20 goes to administration and $.80 or less goes towards research. As a survivor who depended on an oncologist and a facility for treatment, I would rather help the facility directly, rather than $0.80 for every $10 spent," she said.
"Somebody is going to be making money off of it and in the end it's the retailer … the wrong people are going to benefit."
Of the nearly $48.5 million for national allocations and expenses generated by The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Prairies/NWT Region for 2013/2014, 56 per cent went to grant allocations, 13 per cent toward administration and 31 per cent toward fund development.
Almost 84 per cent of the funds set aside for grant allocations went to research and other grants, with the remaining directed toward grant review, administration, health promotion and volunteers.
The Canada Revenue Agency compiles a searchable list of charities, their financial activities and a breakdown of employee compensation.
"Remember, breast cancer needs attention every day of every month in every year," wrote Fedeyko-Millard in a recent Facebook post. "It doesn't have to be in the form of the colour pink.”
