Breast cancer wristbands send a different message at one school

Breast cancer wristbands usually raise awareness, not trouble.

But that’s what happened when two Pennsylvania middle school girls wore theirs to school on Breast Cancer Awareness Day last month. The Allentown Morning Call reports the slogans on the bands – “I (heart) Boobies” on one side and “Keep a Breast” on the other – got the girls suspended for a day and banned from school dances for a month.

The girls wore the bracelets, which were later banned by the school, in memory of women they knew who had died from the disease. Here are some statistics from breastcancer.org about the toll breast cancer takes.

So let us offer a reminder of a fact perhaps lost in the middle school brouhaha: Breast cancer can kill, no matter how you say it.