Bumps on the Road- A woman's story

You don't have to be a woman, have cancer or be pregnant to support women's health 

On the contrary, if you have been blessed with your health you should be the one to support loved ones affected by women's health issues and recognise that your duty is to help raise awareness for all the problems that may be encountered on the journey to womanhood: her bumpy journey.

Why is "Bumps on the Road" such an appropriate title for a woman's story? Well, it seems that women can not get away from them. Big or small, safe or alarming, metaphor or realistic a woman will be faced with many "bumps" from puberty to menopause and everything in between.

The Early Year Bumps- A young woman going through puberty will develop breasts, which later in life may become a threat to her health. As her hormones come flooding in, she may be blessed with a stubborn bumpy friend called acne. She will start thinking about her sexuality and will need to learn about ways to protect herself against any transmittable diseases like bumpy genital warts (HPV) that may lead to cervical cancer.

Planned and Unplanned Bumps- You made it through puberty, you finished school and all the drama it brings. You are set in your career, you are in a blossoming relationship and now you want a family. You may be among the lucky ones who gets pregnant on the first try and delivers a healthy baby without a breeze. You may be the one who struggles with Infertility or faces a devastating miscarriage or dare I say it: a stillbirth. You may have some challenges with your health and need to manage your endometriosis, fibroids, cysts and every other literal bumps that gets in the way.

Now you're pregnant and guess what? A whole new set of complications come rushing in. Don't get me wrong, pregnancy is a wonderful experience, but people surrounding you don't always understand all the issues and fear a woman can face during pregnancy, not to mention during her delivery. Genetic complications, hyperthyroid, hypertension, obesity, gestational diabetes and pre-eclamspia just to name a few.

"Pregnancy isn't fatal, why should I be alarmed?" It shouldn't be, but in most impoverished countries it is. Thankfully, we live in a country where we have access to quality care and have the privilege of surviving something so natural as childbirth. But truth be told, this is a whole other ballgame.

You survived childbirth, and now you have to take care of a new baby. You may struggle with depression, anxiety and may have bonding issues with your baby. You may have difficulty with breastfeeding or have to take care of a colicky baby while being sleep deprived. Not that I am trying to cut this paragraph short, but I am sparing you the details. I could write an entire book about all the life adjustments a new mom has to make while discovering the new person she has become.

The Later Year Bumps-  Not to alarm you, but it seems that as you get older the bumps in your life get bigger and scarier! While I am not in this part of my journey yet, I do know that I will have to face Menopause, and maybe even Osteoporosis. I will have to avoid deadly cancers on my breasts, ovaries and colon. I will have to ensure that I lead a healthy lifestyle and take care of my heart. All of this while I nurture my growing family and people around me. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill.

I am so lucky to be a woman, and even luckier to work for an organization that looks after my health and well being.

Please join me, on October 20th for the 3rd annual Canadian Foundation for Women's Health's "Bumps on the Road- A 9K Walk for Pregnancy" This year we have partnered with Life with a Baby and our local presenting sponsor Heritage Education Funds. Remember, you don't have to be pregnant to support the cause. We encourage men, women and children to participate. Come walk 9 km to honour the women in your life! Who knows, one day it could be you!

Why fundraising for women's health is hard

You're probably thinking that I am crazy for making such a bold statement, but yes, it is extremely hard to fundraise for women's health! I have been working for a women's health organization for five years now, and specifically fundraising for 3 years for the Canadian Foundation for Women's Health, a national charity that raises money for research in women's sexual and reproductive health. Although one might think that this is an easy job, trust me when I tell you fundraising here comes with its challenges.

Successful fundraising equation
For fundraising to work, you must use this simple equation:

Cause/Problem + Passion = Support

In this equation "cause" is the reason you are raising funds for, the "Passion" is the person/business that is either affected by your cause or has a solution for the cause and "Support" is either monetary or in-kind.

What's Hindering the Support
Here are the factors that make it difficult to fundraise for women's health:

• "Isn't breast cancer women's health?", "I already support breast cancer", "I'm wearing pink today"
• Women's health is such a broad topic, specifically I am referring to women's sexual and reproductive health, the rest of our health is pretty much the same as men.
• Research that is needed for such things as "Pregnancy" don't come with a medication that can "cure" it. Therefore fundraising for it is less obvious. In fact, because we limit the use of medication during pregnancy, this makes it even more difficult.
• Remember when we talked about Passion, well in this case it's actually too broad of a spectrum. One can argue that Women's Health affects every single person on this planet. Why? Because we all came from our mother's womb. 
• Anyone that has taken a marketing class knows that you can't just advertise to "everyone" you need a target market. Well, in this case, if we narrow it down, one of our target audience is new moms raising a family on her maternity leave budget and that are struggling to make it by, or a young family that is spending every last dime on fertility treatments. Wow, we should be able to raise tons for research this way.
• Back to the Cause, what's so terrible about "Women's Health" that we need to raise money for? Well, obviously if you are asking yourself this question you have no clue what's either coming to you or you are a man. Women go through so many changes during different stages in their lives. As soon as a woman hits puberty, she is destined to encounter a plethora of unique "challenges' with her body. She will become a mother, or perhaps suffer infertility. She may have specific diseases such as Endometriosis, Fibroids or Vulvodynia. And later in life she may have uncontrollable symptoms of menopause and suffer from problems like incontinence. Dare I also mention that throughout this entire time a woman will be dodging the "C" word and try to protect all her organs; from het skin, to her ovaries, to her cervix and breasts.

Fashion, Heels and Cosmetics are NOT related to Women's Health
Why don't you just throw pink cocktail party and a fashion show to raise money for women's health? Contradictory to popular belief, high heels, fashion and cosmetics are not really related to women's health. In fact, many of these things are ironically bad for women. Heels destroy your feet, our fashion world makes it beautiful to have an eating disorder and cosmetics have made us more shallow, hate our natural selves, question our beauty and have been linked to cancer. Yes, women like these things (and trust me, so do I!). But this is a way to attract women and make fundraising "trendy". I am not sure how much the participants are doing it for the "Passion".


Fundraising is a difficult, yet rewarding job. When you have managed to convince someone that they should support you, because they already believe in your cause, you can rest assure knowing that you have instilled passion in one person. The nice thing about passion is that it is highly contagious!

The intention of my post is not for the readers to feel sorry for me and give to the charity that I represent, but more for you to find a cause and match it with your passion.

Good luck!