Breast cancer awareness month

October 2011 is breast cancer awareness month. 

Raising awareness in this way is a good thing, it seems to me. I know many people who've been diagnosed with breast cancer, usually very early because of campaigns such as this one. And, of course, early detection improves your chances. So, let's all pay heed and contribute to the campaign.

BUT - and this is the thing that always strikes me about awareness campaigns - it does seem that only the 'big' cancers - breast, prostate, bowel, cervical - achieve this level of exposure. I didn't have any of those cancers; does this mean that 'my' cancer is somehow seen as less important, less worthy of awareness raising? It's a dilemma, isn't it? How to raise awareness for specific cancers and yet not exclude other cancers or to make them seem less 'important'?