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THE
BACKGROUND
The Feel Your Boobies®
campaign was founded in 2004 after our Founder,
Leigh Hurst, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the
age of 33. She found her lump simply by “feeling her
boobies”, not through a formal self-breast exam.
What originally started as a few fun t-shirts she
designed to remind her friends to “feel their
boobies”. She quickly realized that her mission was
much larger than tshirts alone. Since that
realization, the Feel Your Boobies campaign evolved
into what is now the Feel Your Boobies Foundation, a
non-profit breast cancer organization that focuses
100% on using media and other unexpected &
unconventional methods to spread this life saving
message to young women.
Why use unexpected and unconventional methods? Well,
based on Leigh’s experience, many young women tune
out traditional messages about breast cancer because
they don’t believe they are at risk or the messages
are too clinical. Here at Boobies Central, we know
that research shows that simply “feeling your
boobies” (aka “breast awareness) is just as
effective at identifying lumps or other breast
changes as the traditional step-by-step process of
“breast self-exams”. And that’s exactly why we’re
here -- to give you “a friendly reminder when you
least expect it”. So get feeling girls, and remind a
friend to do the same.
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CAMPAIGN FUNDED BY:
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THE
FOUNDATION &
MISSION
The Feel Your Boobies Foundation focuses on one
simple mission (and we have since 2004): using media
and other unconventional outreach to remind young
women to ‘feel their boobies’. Over the past few
years, provocative breast cancer slogans have become
more popular…and while we’re all about a good
chuckle, we’d like to make sure our supporters know
that we’re more than a funny slogan. Feel Your
Boobies®
is a call to action that reminds you about a habit
that can increase your chances of early detection
and potentially save your life.
Why focus solely on the use media to spread or
message? That’s simple. Since 2004, this campaign
has run out of our Founder, Leigh’s, home in a small
town in Pennsylvania. With a shoestring budget and a
few dedicated volunteers and workers, Feel Your
Boobies has reached an international audience with
its message and saved lives (read
our testimonials!). Media (social media
specifically) makes this possible. With over 300K
“likes” on facebook and more than 1Million Cause
supporters…we’re certainly making waves from this
tiny PA town.
Why focus primarily on young women? For women who
are pre-mammogram age (under 40), “feeling your
boobies” is one of the primary ways to get to know
your body and detect changes in your breasts. Even
as you get older, this habit can help in making sure
you identify a change in your breast as soon as it
occurs and bring it to your doctor’s attention.
Should the change be breast cancer, early detection
is the primary way to increase your chances of
surviving this disease.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Like
so many young women diagnosed with breast cancer,
Leigh’s breast cancer diagnosis seemed to come from
out of nowhere. Having been an avid runner &
triathlete and having no family history of the
disease, the words “breast cancer” rarely even
crossed her mind. But after feeling a lump in her
breast that was undetected by doctors and finding
out two years later that this lump in fact was
cancer (Stage 1), Leigh realized that truly anyone
is at risk of developing breast cancer and that
being in touch with your body can help ensure an
early diagnosis and possibly save your life. She
also wondered why, as a health conscious person, she
had not thought more about breast cancer and came to
the conclusion that the messages that are out there
simply don’t get through to young women. From this
basic idea, Feel Your Boobies was born.
Having spent her career focused on consulting in the
area of learning theory, media strategy and behavior
change, Leigh was familiar with honing messages to
match her audience. She holds a Bachelors Degree in
Communications from Ithaca College and went on to
earn two Master’s Degrees (Florida State &
Northwestern University) in the areas of Learning
Sciences & Simulation Technologies. She worked for
Accenture doing business consulting in the area of
eLearning, and helped several small companies create
and launch their eLearning product lines. This
background helped her create a campaign and
Foundation that is not only spreading this
lifesaving message to an underserved audience, it’s
actually saving lives.
Following her diagnosis in 2004, Leigh went on to
marry a childhood sweetheart in 2008. In 2011, after
finishing 5 years of Tamoxifen and at the age of 40,
Leigh gave birth to her first son Eli and is
expecting baby #2 in August 2012 at the age of 42.
Her story is not only an inspiration to young women
facing breast cancer, but to anyone facing a
challenge in their life. To read more about Leigh’s
story or to inquire about speaking engagements,
visit
SaySomethingBig.com.
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THE
ORIGINAL T-SHIRT
THAT STARTED IT ALL
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