Welcome to Cancerland

I loved this piece.
Her writing has its own flair; she definitely has a distinct voice.
She gives us insight into her struggle with cancer, but rather than the usual focus on physical struggles, she shows how she struggled with "cult" of breast cancer.
Is it bad that something like breast cancer can be used to amuse?
I felt like I could connect with this article, because I personally hate ribbons.
Of any sort.
I don't know why, but when I see a yellow ribbon or a pink ribbon or a red ribbon on the back of someone's car, I wonder why they have -that particular ribbon- without including all the other ribbons. Is one cause greater than another? Does putting stickers everywhere really help anything? And how ironic that it is placed on your car, which runs off of fuel from oil that we get from the countries we are fighting, fuel that is burned to form pollutants that could contribute to breast cancer.
Maybe I'm just particularly cynical, I'm not really sure why I don't buy into the happy manufactured world of supporting causes (as she explained it).
I love the little details she includes to describe her doctors, etc.
I love her focusing on the cause for cancer, not the detection of it once it's already there.
In a way, I consider her more of a "fighter" than the "survivors" she typically describes, because she wants to fight the very origin of existence of the cancer itself, not just a battle to win her individual body back.
I realize a lot of what I am saying can sound controversial, or like I am denying the respect that is due for women who survive breast cancer. I'm not.
I just found a lot of her information interesting and useful, while simultaneously unnerving. All of the corporation involvement is kind of scary, especially considering the small amount of profits that actually go to research.
She makes you think about things you normally wouldn't think about. And isn't that what great writing is?
When you see the breast cancer culture, you don't really wonder where it comes from. You don't question it. To question it makes it sound like you don't support those with cancer. And clearly if you are not an established enemy of cancer, you might as well be a supporter.
She makes us question it, she makes us ask why all of these things are happening.
I don't have much inside experience with "breast cancer culture" like she does, but I do question her accuracy on the motivations of the women who "participate in the cult." I don't find them naive or fooled, like she seems to. I think they're just women in a bad situation, trying to do the best they can.
What strikes me as odd as how I reacted to the ending. She admits there are huge problems, and people are blind to see them. She admits she is going to die before they ever get fixed. And yet somehow the piece leaves me with a sense of empowerment rather than depression. I think it has something to do with the idea of her taking this pink ribbon which she hates and represents all of the things she stands against, and strangling the people who cause cancer or benefit from it.
In reality, this image would be very frightening and not at all comical.
However, as an idea it is quite effective in summing up her sentiments about her trip to "Cancerland."