National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) started in 1985 as an international health campaign to help increase awareness of the disease and to help raise funds for research.
In 2009, the NFL started to help due its part to promote breast cancer awareness by incorporating pink wherever it can in its “A Crucial Catch” campaign. Players wear pink cleats, socks, chinstraps, gloves, towels, patches and now for a game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets the referees will be using pink penalty flags. The NFL also incorporates pink in its graphics, websites and advertisements.
The NFL is doing this, hoping it makes a difference in people’s lives, maybe even save some.
According to parenting.com, a woman from Staten Island noticed all the pink accents while her husband was watching a Jets game last year. When she asked her husband what was with all the pink, he explained to her that the NFL is promoting breast cancer awareness.
The woman informed the Jets via email last week “That night for the first time ever I gave myself a breast exam. You guys saved my life. I am a 34-year old mother of three and I was diagnosed two weeks later with breast cancer. The outcome had I not seen that game and the players wearing pink would have more than likely been tragic because the cancer had already started to spread and was making its way towards my lymph nodes.”
The story and email has been confirmed by the New York Jets and to be sure there are plenty of similar stories out there given the high profile the NFL is doing with the color pink for breast cancer awareness.
It is truly amazing how something so simple as using the color pink on such a national stage and really reach out and makes a difference in so many people’s lives and we hope the NFL will continue this tradition every October for years to come.
