Paint your toes purple to fight lung cancer!
- You will even get the OPI Purple with a Purpose nail polish for free if you donate $25 or more.
- Submit a photo of your purple toes to purpletoes@lungcancerfoundation.org and your photo(s) will be included in the Smiles for Val living mural.
Inspirations can be found above and throughout this blog (yes, your pet can participate too).
While you are at it, remember that November is lung cancer awareness month, and we ask you to spread awareness via social media to dispel some myths, like that lung cancer only affects smokers.
New study shows lung cancer may be inherited http://t.co/Ge9465qP9Z #LCSM #beatlungcancer — LungCancerFoundation (@End_Lung_Cancer) November 8, 2013
So, before I will make it extremely easy for you to spread the word via a Tweet, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or other channels, here a personal story:
The Tragic
In August 2013 Valerie, a beloved friend of mine, kind human being and a 53-year-young woman received her diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer (it's the final stage). Valerie has never been a smoker!
#LungCancerAwarenessMonth fact: In the last 35 years, the #lungcancer rate has FALLEN 21% among men, while INCREASING 115% among women. — ALA Chicago (@ALAChicago) November 12, 2013
Before Valerie got diagnosed, she started to plan her wedding to Ralph, her partner of 25 years. Can you imagine their shock?
They recently got married in a beautiful ceremony in Yosemite Valley. While we were thrilled to be part of the ceremony, the lung cancer is their reality now.
Kindness of Strangers
Through a friend, Valerie got connected with Bonnie J. Addario and her Lung Cancer Foundation. Bonnie kindly fast-tracked her care to a leading lung cancer specialist at U.C. Davis.
Since, Valerie has started chemo therapy. And while I am still in denial, it is breaking my heart to see all Valerie has to go through.
We need to make her smile.
Lung cancer kills 160,000 people in the US each year-more people than breast, colon, & prostate cancers combined. #LungCancerAwarenessMonth — Sophia Andretta (@sophiaandretta2) November 12, 2013
Making Lemonade out of Lemons
One day, Valerie was having a pedicure, when Ralph came up with a fun idea to keep her spirits up and make her smile.
He painted his own toe nails with her favorite color: PURPLE.
Ralph invited others to join in, via Facebook, and soon many good friends, complete strangers, women, men, kids, entire families and pets, including dogs, cats and even a couple of horses participated.
They got #PurpleToes and sent Ralph a picture of it to be added to the Smiles for Val Mural.
PLEASE JOIN IN
- Donate $25 or more and receive a bottle of OPI polish – Purple with a Purpose (generously donated by Opi).
- Submit a photo of your purple toes to purpletoes@lungcancerfoundation.org. Your photo(s) will be included in the living mural.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US GO VIRAL via YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS TODAY
- Share your own #PurpleToes photos and comments with the hashtag #PurpleToes on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.. Include this URL to encourage others to join the campaign: http://www.lungcancerfoundation.org/campaigns/purple-toes.
- Consider adding one additional hashtags like #BeatLungCancer or #LungCancerAwarenessMonth (as people are already following these hashtags).
To Make It Super Easy, just cut / paste / retweet the content below:
1. Twitter (retweet or create your own tweet with a picture)
- Sample Tweet 1 (you can RT it directly from the picture, at the bottom):
Nov is #LungCancerAwarenessMonth. Join the #PurpleToes Campaign: http://t.co/ow4FPoP4AV >even pets support it 🙂 pic.twitter.com/eglQJU6dXX — Natascha Thomson (@NaThomson) November 13, 2013
- Sample Tweet 2:
Nov is #BeatLungCancer month. Donate $25 & get a free bottle of @OPI_Products Purple Polish: http://t.co/dZbJb2jfSB pic.twitter.com/M37mwZfHR0 — Natascha Thomson (@NaThomson) November 13, 2013
2. Pinterest (upload a picture of your purple toes or pin the campaign website)
3. Slideshare
- Download and share this flyer on your Slideshare account (of course, you could also print it and take it to your nail salon or office)
4. Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn (upload your own picture with a link to the #PurpleToes campaign site; Like and tag the Lung Cancer Foundation FB page)
- See the example for FB & G+ on the left.
- For LinkedIn, post as a status update (no personal picture).
5. Blog
- Write a blog on your own or an external blog site. You are welcome to copy this content. Happy to send you the HTML.
6. All Other
- If you have questions on any other social media post for other channels, please comment on this blog and I'd be happy to help. Would also love to hear any other ideas.
>>> Finally, I'd like to honor my friend Susan Woolf who is the mastermind behind this great campaign and has done all the leg work.
We both hope to soon see lots of #PurpleToes #BeatLungCancer hashtags and photos everywhere. http://www.lungcancerfoundation.org/campaigns/purple-toes/purple-toes-donate/
Thanks for considering to donate $25 or more towards a cure.
Last but not least, please send good wishes to my wonderful friend Valerie!
