Pink Your Sink With Method To Help Raise Breast Cancer Awareness & Research Cash

I was almost 14 years old that hot, sticky summer when my mother found a lump on her breast. When she told me and my brother that she was going to have that lump carved from her body and tested for cancer, I thought that surely, she was going to be gone from here—that I was going to be a motherless child. Back then, you see, that word—cancer— was synonymous with death. You got it, the doctors told you how long you had to live and then you died.

This was not to be my mother’s story, though. After an agonizing two weeks waiting to hear word on whether the lump on her breast was cancerous, the doctor called her and delivered the news: it was benign. Benign. I didn’t know what it meant at first—to my 14-year-old ears, it didn’t sound good. But my mother was smiling through tears and practically singing the word. Life would go on.

My mother was one of the lucky ones.

Today, 1 in 8 U.S. women—about 12 percent—will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime, according to BreastCancer.org. Last year alone, 230,480 new cases of breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 57,650 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. About 39,520 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2011 from breast cancer; African American women are most likely to get the disease before age 45, and die from it, too. In the past year, two of my friends were diagnosed with breast cancer; both underwent double mastectomies and are undergoing treatment doctors hope will save their lives.

In other words, my support of companies working to raise awareness comes from a genuine place. And I’m so proud to share with the MyBrownBaby community a special campaign by Method that, too, comes from a genuine place: the company’s “Pink Your Sink” initiative.

To support breast cancer research, Method is using this season’s limited edition “Designed For Good” hand washes in Botanical Garden and Mimosa Sun to help support breast cancer awareness. How, exactly, does hand soap help us protect the tatas? Well, think about it: the Method folks make soap—soap and other non-toxic products that are free of parabens, phlalates and triclosan, dirty ingredients that can cause way more harm to our bodies than good. Plus, put the pretty pink bottles on the sink and everybody in the house is reminded to do their part to help reduce the numbers of women and men who get diagnosed with, are treated for and die from breast cancer—maybe by reminding them to do something as simple as give themselves breast exams, or make an appointment for a mammography, or donate money or time to helping others get checked, treated or heck, just aware.

And Method isn’t just stopping at its Pink Your Sink campaign; with your help, the company also is donating $10,000 to breast cancer research through its Facebook Charity Challenge. The deets:

Today through Sunday, Method is asking its fans on Facebook which breast cancer affiliated non-profit organizations it should donate $10,000 to. After it collects nominations, Method will invite fans to vote for their favorite non-profits. Between October 22 and October 28, Method then will judge the Top 10 selections to see which four charities will be chosen to receive a $2,500 gift.

Cute soap and cash for companies that help promote breast cancer awareness and research? Score!

Want to Pink Your Sink? Pick up a bottle or two at a local convenience or drug store like Walgreens, Gristedes, Wegmans Market, Kroger and Giant Eagle, among others, or online retailers like Drugstore.com, Soap.com, and Well.ca.

Then get over to Facebook to nominate and vote. Help stick it to breast cancer.

So you know: I partnered with Method to write about my family’s experiences with the company’s environmentally-friendly cleaning products. Yes, I’m getting a check for this. No, they’re not paying me to say nice things about their products. As always, my experiences and opinions are my own.

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