What led cyclist Lance Armstrong to come up with the idea of using rubber cancer bracelets to fund cancer research? Nobody knows. But the iconic yellow rubber cancer bracelets worn by the seven-time Tour de Force champion and cancer survivor quickly became a common fundraising tool. And young people did not take long to convert them, in all colors and with all kinds of messages stamped on them, into a trend.
Rubber wristbands have been around for decades as ‘basketball player bands’, worn by basketball players due to restrictions against metal jewelry. But the trend really caught on with Armstrong’s cancer bracelets.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation says that more than 52 million ‘LiveStrong’ wristbands have already been sold! But millions of other rubber cancer bracelets have been sold, too. And that’s not counting the millions, maybe billions, of all other types of rubber bracelets that have been or are being sold around the world: rubber bracelets for tsunami relief, to show support for US troops. , for almost anything, and nothing! In fact, they are now the coolest thing anyone can rock on their wrists. Although they are called rubber wristbands, they are actually made of synthetic rubber or silicone gel.
When you purchase a LiveStrong cancer rubber bracelet, $1 of your proceeds are donated to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation! I mean, $52 million has already been raised for cancer research! LiveStrong Cancer Rubber Wristbands are manufactured by Nike, the leading sportswear company. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States and one in four deaths is due to cancer.
Now you have a different colored rubber cancer bracelet for different types of cancer. In terms of popularity, after the yellow rubber cancer bracelets come the pink ones. Pink rubber cancer bracelets are worn as a show of support for breast cancer patients. There are still more colors of bracelets for colon cancers, prostate cancers, etc. But it’s nearly impossible to make a color-coding chart for rubber cancer bracelets and the types of cancer they represent. Simply because many of them are being presented by different organizations around the world.
There are people who are serious about wearing their rubber cancer bracelets, and there are those who hate to see them. But there’s no arguing that these rubber wristbands have brought charity into the life of the common man. They have also succeeded in bringing some of the bitter realities of existence, as well as joys, to the plane of society’s consciousness like never before.