Awareness

We often hear the term "awareness" when it follows breast cancer or AIDS, for example.  Are there really people out there not aware of those medical conditions?  And can you really even prevent breast cancer even if you are "aware" and don't you know what causes AIDS by now?  My point is, I wish people would focus more attention on OTHER causes that are life threatening as well.  (not that breast cancer and AIDS are not important issues!)  For example life threatening allergies.  More and more people seem to have them these days for reasons unknown and yet if you are not afflicted it is an inconvenience.  An eye roll.  And I'll confess I used to be one of those people.  I scoffed when my son was told to never bring treats to school with peanuts.  "Why inconvenience everyone else for one individual?"  used to be my thinking.  Until karma reared its ugly head and my now 2 year old was found to be allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.  Deathly allergic.  The tiniest amount could KILL my sweet angel.  I have such anxiety about it that we don't even take him to restaurants.  After all, if I can't physically see a label telling me what's in the food, why should I trust a chef or waitress with my child's life?  I wish people were more "aware" of this topic and realized it is nothing to scoff at or take lightly when lives are at stake.  You can't just pick off nuts and expect them to then eat the food.  Once the nuts have touched the food it is contaminated.  I wish all people knew to ask the parent before they hand your child any treat to eat.  We hate to be a pain but we have to be! Another issue I am passionate about is suicide awareness after I just recently found out an old friend had been lost at the tender age of 22 to this sickness.  And that's what it is- a mental sickness that needs awareness, not a stigma or "someone else's problem" attached to it. Again that used to be me.  I was ignorant until I was unfortunately touched by it.  And shockingly it has altered my life.  I no longer feel like I am the same person.  And although I refuse to judge, I wonder how so many people with mental illness get access to guns.  Some, like my friend, were police officers or military members!  I think it may just be way too easy if you had an extra bad day and there's a gun in plain sight.  I wonder what warning signs were missed for all these sad victims.  If we were ALL more aware, could we greatly reduce this preventable tragedy?  Lastly I bring forth the cases of women suffering from obstetric fistulas.  In plain English, women in poor countries with complicated labors may labor for days with a dead infant stuck inside them.  Soon the pelvic tissues start dying off due to reduced blood flow and after the shock of finally delivering a dead infant, the woman is left leaking uncontrollable amounts of urine and or feces.  Due to no or much too costly or far off medical care, these women are outcasts for the rest of their lives.  Their husbands divorce them.  Their smell is unbearable.  Many commit suicide.  I bring this cause to attention because I suffered from it after a botched c section surgery where my bladder was cut.  I was miserable for about 4 months until a second surgery finally fixed me for good.  But I was lucky enough to be born in the USA where medical care like this is a given.  In other poor countries, these women suffer needlessly when most cases can be resolved with relatively simple surgeries.  I highly recommend reading the book "The Hospital By The River" by Dr. Catherine Hamlin.  This saint of a woman dedicated her life to helping and fixing these afflicted women in Africa.  Basically this is a quality of life issue for women that no one should have to live with. Simple surgeries and donations are all that's needed.  Thank you for opening your mind today!