For International Women's Day: Pink Credit Cards in Aid of Breast Cancer Charities

Today is International Women's Day, a good opportunity for a quick posting on a subject close to my heart: that's Breast Cancer, now the most common cancer here in the UK. Let's not forget that men are not immune from this killer; although most (99%) of its victims are women.

This horrible, destructive disease is a major killer of women all over the world, and is now estimated to affect 1 in 8 of us.  That's a terrifying statistic, especially for people like me who have had BC, and are mothers of daughters.  Even those of us lucky enough not to have been directly affected will probably have several friends and acquaintances who have been diagnosed with BC and endured the brutal and unpleasant treatment which is still the norm for most patients. 

Thankfully, most of them, like me, will now survive to live a normal life-span.  In the UK we are fortunate to have a National Health Service, which is not perfect, but a guarantee that every woman who needs it will receive potentially life-saving medical treatment.  Nevertheless, it's a pity that the UK still seems to be lagging behind the rest of Europe when it comes to survival rates. 

It's a pity that in a modern, civilised society we are still reliant on charities such as MacMillan, Breast Cancer Care, Marie Curie, Cancer Research UK and Breakthrough Breast Cancer for essential help and support in fighting our cancers, raising awareness and education and of course in researching for better treatments and the elusive cure. It seems to me that we should not have to rely on charitable institutions for these services, but, believe me, I am extremely glad and eternally grateful that they exist.

What's all this got to do with a blog about credit cards?  Not a lot, apart from the fact that without recent advances in surgery and drug treatments I wouldn't be here today writing this posting...and I have found a couple of credit cards which support Breast Cancer charities.

In the UK,  MBNA offer the Breakthrough Breast Cancer card, a great way to generate life-saving funds from a shopping trip. Breakthrough receive £40 the first time you use the card, 25p for every £100 spent, and a further £2 for every year you continue to use the card.
http://breakthrough.org.uk/donate/credit_card.html


In the US the Bank of America supports a cancer charity called Susan G Komen for the Cure via its Pink Ribbon Debit and Credit cards.  From 2009-2011, Bank of America is guaranteeing a minimum of $1,950,000 and a maximum of $2,700,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure^® in conjunction with this program.
http://giving.bankofamerica.com/komen?cm_mmc=DEP-Affinity-_-vanity-_-DA01VN0074_komen-_-200904

Thanks to the dedicated work of doctors, researchers and fund-raisers, the outlook for Breast Cancer patients is improving.  In England, for women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001-2006, five-year relative survival rates have reached 82% ,compared with only 52% thirty years earlier in 1971-75. Something to celebrate on International Women's Day, and a great reason to consider signing up for a your own Pink credit card.