It’s like a blast from the past; a new, fun, feminine vintage pin-up calendar is helping raise awareness about a devastating disease.
Ashley Hart is 25 years-old, a breast cancer survivor, and a pin-up girl, “The photo turned out better than I thought it would” she beams.
Hart is one of more than a dozen women featured in a new vintage calendar; the 2013 Pink Ribbons Pin-Ups Calendar.
All of the ladies in the pictures are living with, or have survived breast cancer.
Hart kicks off the year as Miss January, “It's pretty glamorous, but it's very real. There's a month where there's two sisters that show off their scars. There's a month where a girl has her back scar showing. So it's very real. It's not trying to hide any of the scars and the pain we went through.”
The project hopes to raise awareness and empower survivors, something Miss December Alana Arthur says she's proud to be a part of. “Breast cancer is like a gift wrapped in barbed wire. You go through hell on the outside but on the inside there's gift; your friends and family, and the generosity of community.”
Laurel Sopher is a breast cancer survivor and the project manager for the 2013 Pink Ribbons Pin-Ups calendar. She says, “If you look through the calendar you see that there is no discrimination. It's women of every ethnicity, every age, every walk of life. Breast cancer does not care. It is so important that the word get out there and people need to check. People need to be aware.”
October is all about raising awareness for breast cancer, and the Calgary Stampeders donned a little pink of their own during Saturday's game to show their support.
For survivors like Hart, every display of support, whether it be pink cleats or someone picking up a sexy calendar, is empowering. “It's good for a survivor to feel like you belong to part of a club and that you're not alone and to see all this support.”
The calendar sells for $10.99 at all Canada Safeway stores and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
More information at http://www.pinkribbonpinups.com/