For the last several years, the Knoxville affiliate of Susan G. Komen has selected 8 men to be community spokesmen, and advocates for breast cancer survivors and breast cancer awareness. The number is significant because one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. I am very proud to have been selected this year to be one of these “Pink Tie Guys”! As a Pink Tie Guy, I’ll don my pink tie on the 8th of every month to help spread awareness of breast cancer, and to encourage those in our community who are, or have battled breast cancer.

As part of the promo for both the Race for the Cure, and the Susan G Komen foundation in general, we were asked to define warrior, and then asked how that definition of warrior applied to our survivor. Holly and I have definitely moved into the endurance phase of the breast cancer process. It takes sometimes a daily reminder for us that we’re not statistics, and we’ve got an abundant life in front of us. For the women (and men!) who have had breast cancer, normal never really returns. Those physical and emotional scars hang around, long after the doctor visits are over. Even if its been years since that someone in your life has had breast cancer, take a minute to remind them that you still care and are still on the journey with them!

–Dan Thompson