More than just a ribbon: Hope and encouragement

As founder and president of PACT: Princeton Against Cancer Together, I am responding to Aileen Nielsen's inaccurate and irresponsible piece of journalism (April 9).

In her not-quite seven months at Princeton, Ms. Nielsen seems to have formulated a strict and regimented "drill" to deal with proactive campaigns on campus. Her blasé statement, "I didn't even bother to look at what the table was about before I stopped" is suggestive of an apathetic attitude. Maybe if Ms. Nielsen hadn't been "in a rush" and hadn't "just wanted some chocolate," she would have noticed that, contrary to her presupposition that Frist tables have no import, PACT had planned a plethora of events for the cancer awareness week. She could have educated herself, but in a probable attempt to accept the authority of the clock and her professor, she lost an opportunity to engage in something that was possibly more worth her time.

If Ms. Nielsen had taken the time as a serious journalist to find out what PACT is, she would have realized that it is not simply a ribbon campaign. The fact that she didn't even do that indicates a preconceived concept for an inflammatory article. The ribbons were actually a side-note to a week packed with activities. But if the only thing PACT had done this entire year was to hand out ribbons, this would have been a significant step toward making cancer visible. I can speak as someone who has lost her mother to cancer and seeing another person wearing a ribbon is somehow comforting. Christy Laakmann '03, who lost her father to lung cancer says, "Often people who have not dealt with something especially trying underestimate the value of even the smallest gestures of compassion."

During the awareness week, PACT sought to support those touched by cancer, to discuss oncology research, to conduct fundraising and to help erase the stigma attached to cancer. In an email, Ms. Nielsen indicates that she doesn't believe there is a "stigma attached to cancer." Maybe grad student Eszter Hargittai's response to Ms. Nielsen's article will enlighten her: "I come from a country where there was very little talk of cancer when I was growing up and even now it is a hush-hush topic that people are often embarrassed to discuss and patients are often not even told of what they are dying." Many families in this country still remain very secretive about the disease because of concerns about the way cancer may be perceived by others.

The first event of the week, an arch sing, brought people together, as songs were dedicated and personal stories were told. A panel discussion led by President Tilghman on interdisciplinary approaches to cancer research created campus discussion about the newest research. A vigil attracted more than 80 participants and was the first time many of the people present had ever spoken openly about how cancer had affected their lives. It created a network of support for all who attended. Ms. Nielsen's referral to this event in an email as a "disgusting orgy of hypocrisy" is an insult to all of those and their families who found solace in the event. Breast cancer survivor and speaker Nancy Healey of the Susan G. Komen Foundation inspired students to do something about cancer and praised PACT's attempt to make cancer visible, as it was a taboo topic when she was a child. The concert performance by Leslie Nuchow, a musician who fights the tobacco industry through her music, proved that one may incorporate activism into one's occupation. We don't have to sell out to industries that harm humanity or to a life of writing offensive and inaccurate newspaper articles in an attempt to make a name for oneself on a university campus.

Ms. Nielsen raises questions at the end of her article that demonstrate blatant ignorance. "Has any cancer victim's life been made easier or better through this?" I will let the words of my friend and cancer survivor, Kate Lynn Schirmer '03 speak to that: "The vigil was the first time I told group of strangers about my cancer. As a cancer survivor at this age, I feel totally isolated because cancer is not usually addressed by members of our age group. Any chance to openly say that this has happened to me and to feel that it's ok to come forward is a crucial step in anyone's healing process."

Ms. Nielsen also asks: "Has any funding been raised for research?" During last week alone, PACT raised more than $1,000 for cancer research, adding to the $2,000 that we raised in the month of February.

Finally, I will highlight some of the more disturbing aspects of Ms. Nielsen's article. She writes: "I couldn't help wondering if they weren't perhaps even trivializing the agony that many cancer victims deal with." Actually, Ms. Nielsen has trivialized the real pain, and agonizing grief that PACT members and many others have dealt with in their own raw and personal experiences with cancer. She has imposed a negative outlook on the actions of a group that has done everything to find something positive in their own negative situations.

Another statement, "I find it harder to look at PACT as relatively harmless and well-intentioned" is in poor taste. How could PACT be anything but well-intentioned? And I can assure Ms. Nielsen that writing her insensitive article is harder to see as an action that was harmless and well-intentioned. To reduce PACT to a ribbon campaign is a mistake but to use PACT in order to espouse loftier questions of the meaning of the passive wearing of ribbons, while bolstering her argument with false information, is negligent journalism.

I'm sure that Ms. Nielsen will be disappointed to know that through her negative journalism, I have become even more confident that PACT has a real place on the Princeton campus and is reaching more people than I imagined it would. Students (who may have otherwise remained silent) are speaking out about how important the issue of cancer is and how PACT is making an impact. PACT is trying to bring an illness that can be a lonely death sentence out of the shadows. If this is accomplished by merely donning a ribbon, that is at least one step into the light. If Ms. Nielsen wants action against cancer, she should cease writing articles that compromise her journalistic integrity. I challenge the passive Ms. Nielsen to stand up and act — if not in the name of her grandparents, then in the name of the many others touched by cancer. A path is formed by walking on it. You never know until you walk. Brittany Blockman is an anthropology major from Memphis, Tn. She can be reached at blockman@princeton.edu.