‘One I made earlier!’ Neil from ASCE poses with the template.
On Friday 1 July we’re being asked to raise awareness of mesothelioma by Going Blue for Meso. It’s easy to do.
Dress all in blue
You can dress all in blue. When your friends comment on your choice of outfit you can explain that it’s Action Mesothelioma Day. Just being able to pronounce the word will impress them! They will then want to know what it is.
Hold a coffee morning for your friends
But what if you can’t dress all in blue or you’re not going out? So long as it’s safe to do so, you can always invite friends round for a coffee morning. Why not bake a special cake and sell it by the slice for mesothelioma research? Best of all, decorate it with blue icing.
Take a ‘selfie’
If you have a mobile phone you can also take a selfie like mine in the picture. You can download the template here. Of course, you will need to print a colour copy.
Making the template
If you don’t have a printer, why not ask a friend or relative to help you? My advice is to print it on very stiff paper or a sheet of card. You can either buy A4 card in packs of ten sheets from your local supermarket or on-line.
Once you have printed the template, fold the sheet very gently in half, so as not to crease it, and cut out the centre with a large pair of scissors. To make the template into a viable frame for your photo you will then need to use some of the spare card from the piece you have cut out to stiffen the top and bottom of the frame. (Otherwise, it will be too floppy to frame your face.) I glued the extra strips of cardboard onto the inside of the frame, but you could carefully sellotape them into place.
Taking your picture
Then it’s just a matter of finding a suitable background for your selfie and sticking your head in the frame. Turn your phone’s built-in camera to ‘selfie’ mode and, if you’re like me, spend the next five minutes working out how to get a good picture. If a friend or family member is on hand, they could take a photo for you or even join you in the frame!
Sharing your photo on Action Mesothelioma Day
Finally, on Friday 1 July, you will need to share your picture via social media. Put the date in your calendar now!
The most popular social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but there are others. If you don’t have a social media account the chances are that a family member with an account can share your selfie for you if you forward the photo to them. You can also send your selfie to all your WhatsApp contacts.
What to say about your selfie
Please remember to include, or to ask the person posting it to include, the ‘hashtags’ #ActionMeso, #GoBlueForMeso and #AsbestosCentral. Type them into the text box. This makes your post more visible. The idea is to create a deluge of #GoBlueFor Meso selfies on Action Mesothelioma Day.
If you’re posting on Facebook or Twitter you may also like to include in the text box a brief personal message – just a sentence or two – explaining why you want to raise awareness of mesothelioma, but this is optional.
If none of this works for you, we maybe able to help
Perhaps none of the options listed above work for you. If that’s the case, please send your photo to us at info@asbestossupportce.org and we will post it for you.