Cancer Awareness Ribbons are something we’re all aware of, right?
They’re an excellent way to show our support for people struggling with terrible diagnoses.
I am aware this simple symbol of a looped color ribbon is also worn to demonstrate solidarity with a wide range of notable causes and other human conditions. This particular post is about cancer awareness ribbons because I am working on a cover for a journal I’m putting together to keep track of a family member’s cancer treatments.
Cover Design for MY CANCER NOTES
Naively, I thought I’d just put some cute colors on there. As I was randomly smattering the ribbons about, I remembered different cancers are represented by different hues. And I wanted to use colors of cancers that have afflicted people near and dear to me.
Turns out, different sources sometimes assign different colors to different cancers. A friendly warning, Wikipedia is not the best source for finding which color represents which cancer type.
You’ll find some cancers such as Blood Cancers use an obvious color, in this case, red. However, as you’ll see in the chart below, the more specialized types within the category have their own.
Here’s a list compiled from a few well researched sites.
Cancer Awareness Ribbon Colors
| CANCER | RIBBON COLOR |
| Appendix Cancer | Amber |
| Bladder Cancer | Yellow, Purple & Navy |
| Blood Cancers | Red |
| – Leukemia | Orange |
| – Hodgkin Lymphoma | Violet |
| – Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma | Lime Green |
| – Multiple Myeloma | Burgundy |
| Bone Cancer / Sarcoma | Yellow |
| Brain Cancer | Gray |
| Breast Cancers | Pink |
| – Metastatic Breast Cancer | Pink, Teal & Green |
| – Inflammatory Breast Cancer | Hot Pink |
| – Male Breast Cancer | Pink & Blue |
| – Breast Cancer with Gynecological Cancers | Teal & Pink |
| Childhood Cancers | Gold |
| Colon & Colorectal Cancers | Dark Blue |
| Gall Bladder & Bile Duct Cancers | Kelly Green |
| Gastric / Esophageal / Stomach Cancer | Periwinkle |
| Gynecological Cancers | Purple |
| – Cervical Cancer | Teal & White |
| – Ovarian Cancer | Teal |
| – Uterine or Endometrial Cancer | Peach |
| – Vaginal & Vulvar Cancers | Purple |
| Head & Neck Cancer | Burgundy (or Red) & White |
| Kidney Cancer | Orange or Green |
| Liver Cancer | Emerald or Jade Green |
| Lung Cancer | Pearl or White |
| Neuroendocrine Cancers | Black & White Zebra Stripes |
| Pancreatic Cancer | Purple |
| Prostate Cancer | Light Blue |
| Skin Cancers | Black |
| – Melanoma | Black |
| – Squamous Cell Carcinoma | Red & White |
| Testicular Cancer | Orchid Purple |
| Thyroid Cancer | Purple (or Blue), Teal & Pink |
Sources websites National Breast Cancer Foundation, Very Well Health, Medical News Today
Zebra-Print Cancer Awareness Ribbons represent Rare Cancers
I learned something interesting during this search.
The cancers represented with the black & white zebra striped ribbons are considered “rare.” (Rare cancers affect fewer than 40,000 people per year in the United States.)
My mother’s diagnosis, the family member I’m putting the book together for, is considered rare. Therefore, I’ll be wearing a zebra-print, cancer awareness ribbon.
And the zebra print comes from the saying coined by Dr Theodore Woodward in the 1940s, “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” I love that! To efficiently solve problems, we’re taught to look for the obvious answer (horses) instead of jumping to outlandish conclusions (zebras).
But if there were no zebras, how would we know to think of them?
