Pink bicycle rack sales aid breast cancer fight

What's a bicycle rack got to do with breast cancer?

It it's pink in color, it may be a good source of money in the effort to find a cure for the disease.

October is national breast cancer awareness month. A Madison company is raising awareness and money to find a cure for the disease through the sale of its most popular product.

Saris Cycling Group, maker of the Bones bicycle car rack, is donating $5 from each sale of a pink, special edition model to the University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Global sales are expected to generate more than $10,000 in the first year alone with all proceeds supporting the research efforts of local doctors. But the unique appearance of the bike rack could also help the general populous recognize that all around them are breast cancer survivors who not only live with the disease, but thrive.

The trunk-mounted rack is sold widely throughout the country and around the world. Easy to install, the Bones rack is a favorite among bicycle enthusiasts, both riders and retailers.

Biggest bumper sticker

"It's the biggest bumper sticker you can have on the rear of your car," said David Cathcart, director of communications at Saris. "There could be no better way to bring this cause to the attention of so many people who might one day be touched by it."

Made popular by the efforts of Susan G. Komen For a Cure, the nation's leading breast cancer advocacy organization, pink is acknowledged just about everywhere as the color of breast cancer awareness.

The Bones rack is one of many commercial products in pink that aim to get the message across to the public.

"A pink bike rack is a great opportunity for us to give back," Cathcart said. "With so many pink products, they're not pink because they sell to women but because they can make a difference in finding a cure. That was the genius of the idea."

178,000 new cases

Statistics generated by Susan G. Komen For a Cure indicated that 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the United States during 2007. An estimated 40,460 women will die from the disease.

Saris owners Chris and Sara Fortune became involved in breast cancer awareness as a family member struggled against the disease in the late 1980s. Sara Fortune's sister received treatments for breast cancer at the UW Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center. It was here that a relationship was forged to support research and the development of advanced treatments.

Dr. James Stewart, a UW-Madison cancer research scientist, said money donated through the sale of the pink Bones rack would go a long way toward finding a cure. "Budgets are tight. They've been shrinking over the last few years and not growing, which is particularly frustrating because the opportunities now are probably greater than ever," Stewart said. "So programs like the Saris bicycle rack can only help."

Cancer research funded over the last 30 years, Stewart said, has focused on understanding how the disease works. "We know a lot more about the biology of cancer than we used to. We're getting farther along this path of categorizing breast cancer," he said. "Breast cancer's not one disease. It's a hundred diseases."

Different manifestations of breast cancer will vary from one person to the next. But now, Stewart said, researchers have a better handle on specific courses of treatment. Today, clinicians can prescribe medications that are less toxic and more directly attack the exact form of cancer invading their patients' bodies.

Greater opportunities now

Diane Stojanvoich, director of communications at the UW School of Pharmacy, is currently in remission from non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of cancer that attacks the immune system. She's also the president of TEAMSurvivor Madison Inc., the local chapter of a national organization that offers fitness opportunities and health education for woman surviving any type of cancer. Stojanvoich is an avid triathlete and marathon runner in spite of the cancer that threatens her life. She said the pink Bones bike rack could show that people like her are actively fighting back.

Pink is on the map

"I think it's fabulous. It gives the public at large a visible awareness. Pink is on the map and people know what pink is," Stojanvoich said. "This will let them know that we're out there, that we're surviving."

TEAMSurvivor Madison has more than 100 members, many of whom are under treatment for breast cancer.

Bret Gaves, general manager of the Trek Bicycle stores on the east and west sides of Madison, said the bike rack is an easy sell.

"For us it's really a no-brainer. It's a really simple thing to do to support such a good cause while selling one of our top products," Graves said. "It adds variety to our assortment and it's an outlandish color that people gravitate toward. It's also a conversation starter because people want to know what it's about. We can raise awareness for breast cancer and raise money at the same time.

Competing in triathlons and bike races throughout the state and around the country, TEAMSurvivor Madison members raise the profile of cancer patients who aspire to beat their diagnosis.

In remission now for seven years, two years longer than average, Stojanvoich attributes her good health to a regimen of regular exercise. Though James Stewart at UW says there is no direct relationship between physical activity and prolonged rates of remission, Stojanvoich believes that staying active has kept her cancer at bay.

"There's no cure, so we try to get you to stay in remission until you have another occurrence," Stojanvoich said. "They're now beginning to look at cancer as a chronic disease that you manage like diabetes, hypertension or high blood pressure."

As more people see athletes at events or out on the highway sporting pink equipment, apparel and accessories like the Bones rack, Stojanvoich said the agenda to find a cure moves steadily forward.

She said the combination of fundraising and increased public awareness is creating the synergy necessary to not only cure cancer but to inspire those with the disease to keep fighting.

"We have to all be in this together," she said. "The funding isn't there yet. Those funds have to come from the grass roots level. That's why I think it's admirable for Saris to make the effort with this pink bike rack. The message can only be win-win."

James Edward Mills is a Madison freelance writer.