Because no one likes a group who misrepresents the truth to promote a private agenda, The National Breast Cancer Coalition, NBCC, announced they were hosting the first annual Golden Boob Awards to expose the biggest boobs in the fight to stop breast cancer. The nominees in this year's Golden Boob Awards were the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer (ABC) for threatening the integrity of serious efforts to find ways to prevent, treat, cure, and ultimately end breast cancer; and Mark For Life for trying to make money from a product with no impact in the fight against breast cancer.

By popular vote, the winner as this year's biggest boob is, as announced on the Golden Boobs Award website: "The Abortion/Breast Cancer Coalition (ABC) for asserting that abortion leads to an increased risk of breast cancer, despite lacking one shred of relevant proof to back up this claim. ABC's stock in trade - pseudo-science, fear mongering, and flat-out lies - has threatened the integrity of serious efforts to find ways to prevent, treat, cure, and ultimately end breast cancer."

In addition, NBCC is awarding a Dishonorable Mention Golden Boob Award to recent high-level presidential appointee as deputy assistant secretary for population affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Eric Keroack, who is currently the medical director of A Women's Concern, an organization that also states a connection between abortion and breast cancer.

The NBCC is a grassroots advocacy group that works for increased federal funding for breast cancer research and with the scientific community to implement new models of research. The NBCC seeks to improve access to high-quality health care and breast cancer clinical trials for all women. To learn more about the winners, or to nominate the next biggest boob in the fight against breast cancer, visit Golden Boob Awards.

It is no secret that our culture has a fascination with celebrities. In attempting to figure out exactly why, I have come to the conclusion it might be no more of a mystery other than they are people we all know in common. As human beings, we are naturally intrigued by other human beings. But if I try to talk to you about my neighbor, and you do not live in my neighborhood, you will have no idea who I am talking about or how to relate information I am sharing about that person because you have no point of reference. However, celebrities are people we all know of -- they become familiar in that we hear about them every day -- we see images of them every day in the news.

Before being diagnosed with breast cancer, a woman might not have paid much attention to breast cancer. Oh yes, the breast cancer awareness campaigns are raising awareness, but we do not really like to spent too much time dwelling on potentially life-threatening events unless we are compelled to do so -- usually with a breast cancer diagnosis.

Over at Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Tekla blogged the top ten things this group of moms have learned since they began blogging seven months ago in Moms boobs and other lessons learned. Interestingly, and unfortunately accurate, number six on the list is:

"6. If you talk about breast cancer, your blog stats go way down for days and days. Everyone knows it's something women need to deal with, but clearly no one wants to read about it."

And so, if you are newly-diagnosed with breast cancer, or know someone who is, and haven't spent much time focused on breast cancer before diagnosis, there are many women we all know in common who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and many of them as breast cancer survivors. In time, you will personally meet other breast cancer survivors and realize you are not alone and be inspired by their hope, strength, courage and companionship. Until then, you can read an extensive list of 100 famous women who have faced breast cancer down and gone on -- here.

During the first week of October, bloggers submit photos of breasts as part of a blogging breast cancer fundraiser to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Launched five years ago by Robyn Pollman, a stay-at-home mother of two toddlers who blogs Shutterbug, and is webmistress of Wholly Matrimony!, the Boobie-Thon has raised over $35,000 dollars in total. This year, the 152 bloggers participating and donors of the Boobie-Thon raised over $9,000 dollars.

According to the Boobie-Thon, "Boobies. Although they come in all shapes and sizes (large, small, saggy and perky), they have one thing in common: The ability to develop cancer."

Over 1500 people have contributed photos of breasts to the blog, and the website is designed to be workplace safe -- in other words, the main page of the website does not display photos of breasts. You can view photos by visiting one of the galleries of breasts.

A personal note from Boobie-Thon founder Pollman regarding the history and controversy of this event can be read here -- because apparently, there are some who have objected to the Boobie-Thon and resorted to name-calling and other criticisms.

Hate the pink? In an effort to raise money for breast cancer organizations with diverse philosophies but common goals in stopping breast cancer, Pollman posted, "If you don't believe in pink. If you don't believe in what we're doing here. Well then for goodness sake, believe in something and donate to Breast Cancer Action."

To be inspired in how the blogging community can create a grassroots fundraiser based on one blogger's post of an idea, visit Boobie-Thon.

Breast cancer survivor and journalist Laura Jensen Walker is author of Reconstructing Natalie, a story of about a young Christian woman diagnosed with breast cancer.

Walker uses humor to tell the tale of Natalie Moore getting dumped by her boyfriend when he finds out she has breast cancer; being shunned by friends; leaving her church; and attending the Boob Voyage party thrown before her double mastectomy.

There is new romance to be found as Natalie undergoes reconstruction and reconstructs her life. Walker believes strongly that women diagnosed with breast cancer need to laugh -- that humor is healing.

Reconstructing Natalie has been selected as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year. Walker is also the author of the autobiographical book Thanks for the Mammogram!

Molly MacDonald knows it will create attention and that is what she wants in order to raise funds for a non-profit to help women struggling with financial issues while they undergo breast cancer treatment.

Last year, MacDonald was diagnosed with breast cancer and what she remembers is the financial struggles of meeting monthly living expenses and medical expenses. She was between jobs, and found herself barely making if financially and needing to borrow money.

MacDonald would like to help other women who find themselves in the same bind of not only worrying about surviving the chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer but also how to keep the pantry stocked and sometimes, how to keep from becoming homeless. On Monday, MacDonald is launching an eBay auction of a bust of her pre-surgery breasts.

According to the feature story of events planner and graphics consultant MacDonald, "The great thing about eBay is if it's weird, it gets attention." The bust up for auction was cast by artist Nance Aitchison in dental stone and painted gold and yellow the night before MacDonald's breast cancer surgery last year.

On behalf of women facing financial struggles during breast cancer treatments she hopes to help with her fundraising efforts, she said she is ready for her 15 minutes of eBay fame. MacDonald is calling her non-profit the Pink Fund.

No, Venus de Milo is not up for auction.

In previous Boobs bouncing blogs bouncing boobs for a cause, Bouncing for boobs boobs bouncing countdown, Boobeque bouncing for boobs barbeque and Bouncing for Boobs: 100 days 1 million boobs bounced $10,000! posts, we have been following the progress of Priscilla as she blogged the Bouncing for Boobs campaign with the goal to bounce one million times in 100 days to raise $10,000 dollars to help her single mom sister Kathleen keep the lights on and food in the pantry when chemotherapy drained her of any energy to get up and go to work. It was a single effort by a single person to make a difference in a sister's life.

On June 4, Bouncing for Boobs did indeed reach the one million times in 100 days mark and raised $10,000 dollars.

In the process of helping her sister Kathleen, the campaign grew larger than the single effort Priscilla originally intended, and last week, Priscilla blogged at Bouncing for Boobs that the non-profit organization she launched to help single mothers worldwide who face financial concerns of providing for their children while undergoing chemotherapy and cannot work, has taken steps to receive official charity status. Bouncing for Breast Cancer is on its way, and if the past is an indicator of the future, with Priscilla at the helm, success for the Bouncing for Breast Cancer organization is inevitable.

To honor and support former 1995 Hooters Calendar Cover Girl, Kelly Jo Dowd, who is battling a recurrence of breast cancer that has spread to her organs and bones -- during the 10th Annual Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant in Las Vegas, Hooters gave her a check for $135,000 and announced a $1 million dollar breast cancer research grant in her name through the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Dowd, who is 40, successfully went into remission the first time she was diagnosed with breast cancer, only to have the cancer return, is the only woman to climb Hooters restaurant chain's corporate ladder from waitress, to manager, and to general manager. She is also the proud mother of golfing teen phenom Dakoda Dowd.

The V Foundation was launched during the last year of NC State basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster Jim Valvano's life, when he was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma, and told he had a year to live. He spent the last year as an advocate in raising cancer awareness by sharing his personal experience as someone facing life and death with cancer. Valvano's message in the fight against cancer was "Don't Give Up ... Don't Ever Give Up!"

Dowd is fighting for her life, and Hooters has stepped in to help her, and other women facing breast cancer and fighting for their lives, in never giving up in the battle.

B.O.O.B.S: A Bunch of Outrageous Breast Cancer Survivors Tell Their Stories of Courage, Hope, and Healing is a collection of personal stories from ten women struggling with and surviving breast cancer. According to the book publisher, these ten women were brought together by the Wellness Community, a program that offered free psychological support to cancer patients and their loved ones. Some of them have even become patient advocates and spokeswomen in a desire to make a difference in the lives of other women coping with breast cancer, and the stories they tell are to offer hope to other women facing the same struggles in the challenges of trying to survive breast cancer.

It is not surprising that this book is a favorite among women diagnosed with breast cancer, and the family and friends who love them. There is documented research that shows women have better survival rates if they bond with a support group. There is something healing in knowing you are not alone -- that there are others who are traveling the same path -- and are there to light the way. Just as one day, as a breast cancer survivor, you will light the way for other women newly-diagnosed with breast cancer. A wise woman once told me to find inspiration each day. B.O.O.B.S: A Bunch of Outrageous Breast Cancer Survivors Tell Their Stories of Courage, Hope, and Healing is inspiration.

In an earlier post, we told you about one of our favorite organizations, The National Breast Cancer Coalition, NBCC, hosting the first annual Golden Boob Awards. No one likes a group who misrepresents the truth to promote a private agenda, and this year's nominees more than qualify in that regard. When it comes to fighting breast cancer, hidden agendas are particularly heinous. The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is a nominee for threatening the integrity of serious efforts to find ways to prevent, treat, cure, and ultimately end breast cancer. Mark For Life is a nominee for trying to make money from a product with no real impact in the fight against breast cancer.

To date, The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer has received 86 percent of the vote as the biggest boob of the year. Voting ends July 4th, and if you haven't voted, you still have time. If you feel you know of an even bigger boob that deserves this award, the NBCC is also taking nominations at the Golden Boob Awards site. You can vote -- or submit your nomination -- here. Remember, July 4th is the deadline. If you have already voted, send a message, tell a friend.

Update 12.17.2006: The winner of the Golden Boob Awards as the biggest boobs is ....

When Priscilla started her Bouncing for Boobs campaign to bounce one million times in 100 days to raise $10,000 dollars to help her single mom sister Kathleen keep the lights on and food in the pantry when chemotherapy drained her of any energy to get up and go to work, it was a single effort by a single person to make a difference in someone else's life. With a defined goal, and a step-by-step plan for achieving the goal -- and the heart to see it through -- on day 100, after one million bounces, Priscilla has raised $10,000 dollars to help her sister.

In the process, the campaign grew larger than the single effort of helping a single mom diagnosed with breast cancer. When Priscilla returns to her home in London, she begins the next phase of her vision of making a difference in the lives of single moms facing cancer treatments keep the lights on and food in the pantry by officially launching the Bouncing for Breast Cancer non-profit organization. Because along the way of bouncing her boobs for breast cancer, seven more bouncers signed on to join her and corporate sponsors are more than delighted to be a part of her vision to make a difference in the lives of single moms battling breast cancer.

For anyone who has ever had an idea on how to help make the world a better place and the lives of people gentler and less worrisome, and dismissed it as too big, or undoable, or they simply felt they just didn't know where they would begin -- Priscilla is an inspiration in example that you simple start at the beginning, and with a vision, and a goal, and a plan, and with heart  -- nothing is impossible. If you would like to see the start of something big, here are some other blog posts as we watched the idea of Bouncing for Boobs go from a single idea to became a life-changing reality:

Boobeque bouncing for boobs barbeque
Bouncing for boobs boobs bouncing countdown
Boobs bouncing blogs bouncing boobs for a cause

And I predict this is just the beginning of yet bigger things to come. 

Over the Memorial Day weekend, while you were enjoying a backyard barbeque with family and friends, Priscilla and friends were having a boobeque. While you were huddled together and collectively saying cheese for the group photo, Priscilla and friends were huddled together collectively saying boob for the camera. With three days to go, and $1500 dollars short of the $10,000 dollar fundraising goal, Priscilla is not only bouncing her boobs with a few venues planned in Florida while she visits with her sister Kathleen, but she is pulling out all the stops by offering License to bounce and Bouncing for boobs t-shirts at the Bouncing for Breast Cancer online store.

The Bouncing for Boobs blog and the Bouncing for Breast Cancer website started as a personal appeal to raise money for Kathleen, her sister, a single mother in need of financial, emotional and wellbeing support while she goes through chemotherapy. The campaign has grown and Priscilla now plans on expanding the campaign to benefit other single mothers fighting to survive breast cancer. I cannot think of a better cause than helping single mothers and their children through one of the most difficult times of life. Stay tuned. Priscilla is a phenomenally determined woman and I will be sharing the results of her efforts and the exciting accomplishments as she continues to change the world for single mothers everywhere. First for Kathleen.

In woman with fake boobs has real health worries, Busty and bothered wrote to women's medical health expert Dr. Judith Reichman asking if her breast implants will rupture during a mammogram or if there is a possibility that the implants will obscure signs of breast cancer. Dr. Reichman, who is NBC Today show's medical contributor on women's health, responded that both are valid concerns for the over four million women who have had breast augmentation. According the doctor, there were only 41 cases of implant ruptures during mammography reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between June 1992 and October 2002.

As to breast implants obscuring mammography readings, implants can cause a 15 to 50 percent decrease in the mammographically visualized breast tissue and several studies have reported false negative mammograms -- those that missed the cancer -- in 12 to 67 percent of women with breast implants. So, it's a bit of good news and bad news but women with breast implants should not put off having mammograms because of fear that the implants will be damaged or that there is no point in having a mammogram because there is a possibility the implants will obscure the early signs of breast cancer.

When I went through chemotherapy there were days when I did not have the strength to walk across the room. If you haven't been through chemotherapy you might think this is an exaggeration. If you have been through the grueling mean rigors of chemotherapy you know exactly what I am talking about. On some days, during the worst of it, I would have to stop half-way across the room to rest before continuing to the other side of the room -- I am not joking.

Chemotherapy brings a human body as close to the edge of death as is possible without actually dying. Because I know what chemotherapy can do to a person, when I found the Bouncing for Boobs blog, my heart was captivated by the efforts of Priscilla to help her sister Kathleen for the time when she would be going through chemotherapy. Kathleen is a single mom with children to provide for and bills to pay. There is no way she will be able to work full-time to keep the lights on and food in the pantry.

Priscilla came up with a fundraising plan to help by bouncing on a trampoline and asking for donations to match the number of times she bounced her boobs. Its tongue and cheek and it's very serious at the same time. The Bouncing for Boobs campaign officially ends June 3rd, and to date Priscilla has been able to raise $7,000 dollars. She has bounced her boobs over 900,000 times in six countries -- England, India, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland -- at famous landmarks that include the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, London Eye, Dom Cathedral, Leaning Tower of Pisa. Her bouncing boobs are gaining worldwide attention. From this single effort of one sister helping another sister, an organization has been created that will go on to help other single mothers going through chemotherapy keep the lights on and food in the pantry. Priscilla is an every day heroine, an example of what each of us has the capacity to do if we set our minds and hearts to it. If you can, get over to Bouncing for Boobs and help her reach her 10,000 boobs bouncing goal of raising $10,000 dollars before June 3rd.

Breast cancer and chemotherapy
Took away her crown and glory
She promised God if she was to survive
She would enjoy everyday of her life ...
On national television
Her diamond eyes are sparkling
Bald headed like a full moon shining
Singing out to the whole wide world like HEY ...

I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am not your expectations no no
I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am a soul that lives within ...

On May 16, 12-time Grammy-nominated India.Arie released a new single I Am Not My Hair as a music video and as a single from the new album, Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship, set for release on June 27. I heard about the new song from Priscilla's Bouncing for Boobs blog, and in chat among other breast cancer survivors. Verse three of the lyrics are specific to a woman's breast cancer experience of hair loss and chemotherapy. As usual, with inspirational independence, inner strength, an ability to see the world more clearly than most and the creative ability to express that clarity with soul, wisdom and tender truth, I predict this song will touch a deep cord within the breast cancer survivor community.

When Kathleen was diagnosed with breast cancer, her sister Priscilla wanted to help in all the ways a loving sister could think to do -- and she came up with the idea to launch Bouncing for Breast Cancer -- better known as Bouncing for Boobs -- as a way to help support her sister Kathleen with her household bills while she undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

In an effort to raise $10,000 dollars, Priscilla pledged to bounce one million times in 100 days on a trampoline. According to Priscilla, what started as a personal campaign to help one sister is gaining momentum, and the plans are now to take bouncing for boobs to a worldwide level of campaigning in support of other women and single mothers who are struggling with breast cancer.

Priscilla blogs Bouncing for Boobs and maintains the Bouncing for Breast Cancer website. In addition, she is an innovative Image and Performance Mastery coach. All of which is reflected in her blogging. I highly-recommend this blog for all women struggling with and living to survive breast cancer. There are some thoughtful posts related to honoring the self and the healing journey. And it's fun to read as Priscilla bounces her boobs at different locations around the world.