Pink accessories divert funding

My cousin sent me this letter to the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Pink accessories divert funding10/17/12 at 7:27am by Letters Editor
A sea of pink! Baseball players, football players, NASCAR drivers, all wearing pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. All well and good. But think of the money spent on pink caps, gloves, shoes, socks, wristbands and headbands - even the lanyards holding the officials’ whistles - for hundreds of players, coaches, managers, drivers and officials for even one weekend. This same money could have done some good had it been donated directly to breast cancer research.
Judith Enneking
Green Township

Naturally I loved that my cousin thought of me and that she gets my frustration with pink ribbon stuff. The comments posted after this letter were not thoughtful responses, so I won't share them here. But there was another letter to the editor that caught my attention on this topic. After reading both letters, I decided to write my own letter to the Enquirer. 

I am a 14 year breast cancer survivor (10 years stage IV metastatic disease). My cousin sent me “Pink accessories divert funding” because:
1) Could there really be anyone in the USA who’s not already aware of breast cancer?
2) Buying pink ribbon stuff doesn't contribute a lot to finding a cure.
3) Shoppers could Think Before You Pink.
How did the (mostly?) male viewers of these sports events react when they saw men wearing pink? Toast a glass? Give a dollar? Or talk about the scores?
I’d be satisfied with one more dollar towards research. Only a tiny portion of all USA research dollars funds every kind of metastatic cancer.
The ‘sea of pink’ rarely talks about women living with stage IV disease. It's as if we don't exist in the pink ribbon world. But we're the ones who breast cancer kills.