If you’ve walked into the Hall on Franklin in the last week, you’ve most likely been overwhelmed with sparklers lighting up a Freak Shake that’s dressed up in a beer batter cupcake with cayenne praline bacon and a pretzel — you know, Oktoberfest to the max. But come Tuesday, Hall vendor Bake’n Babes will launch a Think Pink Freak Shake in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“Breast cancer, it’s a scary thought and too many women assume that it won’t happen to them,” owner of Bake’n Babes Julie Curry tells CL. But in fact, according to breastcancer.org, about one in eight U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
“At Bake’n Babes we want to promote breast cancer awareness and thought, ‘What better way to do it than with a pink Freak Shake?,” Curry says. “We are all aware of breast cancer, but sometimes it becomes a faceless disease. That’s why, during the first two weeks in October, Bake’n Babes will be sharing stories of those who have been affected by this disease.”
The “Think Pink” Freak Shake is one way Bake’n Babes can shine a light on the people affected by breast cancer, and customers will have a chance to personalize their purchase, too. And isn’t that how it usually works? People don’t go out and buy a Breast Cancer Awareness sticker until a loved one or they personally are touched but the disease. As selfish as that sounds, there is too much for the average human to be worrying about in their day-to-day. Why add something else onto the pile that doesn’t touch them directly?
That sentiment is exactly what Bake’n Babes is trying to tap into with the Think Pink Shake. Instead of just incorporating pink accouterments into the milkshake, hoping that it’ll be ogled at by fellow diners and Instagram feeds across the world, the bakery is packing a heavy message with their marketing. In mid-September, Bake’n Babes sent out a bat signal to those affected by the disease — whether they were currently battling, survivors, or lost a loved one to the fight — to come in, share their story, and be a part of a photo shoot for the latest Freak Shake creation.
“We felt that all the stories and perspectives were equally important,” Curry explains. One of those stories belongs to local Instagram personality, Denyse (@DoseofTampa) who lost her mom to breast cancer after a seven-year-long battle.
“We just want to talk about it. I feel like the milkshakes are a more casual way to do that,” Curry says. She hopes to share a local story every day that the Think Pink Shake is available.
Speaking of going all out for this shake, Bake’n Babes, naturally, does not disappoint when it comes to decorating for the Think Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Freak Shake; the vanilla milkshake is topped with a vanilla cupcake, strawberry shortcake ice cream bar, cotton candy, a pink rubber ducky with a breast cancer ribbon on its chest, and a matching lollipop. Oh, and each shake will come with breast cancer awareness beads and a tattoo.
Obviously, like breast cancer, this monster cannot be taken down by one person alone.
That’s why Curry and the Bake’n Babes team decided to donate proceeds to a 25-year-old woman named Victoria Burnham who is currently receiving treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center, after being diagnosed in December 2018. Burnham wrote into Bake’n Babes to share her story, and pulled a few heartstrings in the process.
“I noticed a lump in my breast around my 23rd birthday but tried to ignore it and was hoping to get rid of it by a change of diet/lifestyle. The tumor began to get larger as the year went on. It wasn’t until the end of November or early December 2018 that I decided to get it checked out,” Burnham explained in her message to Bake’n Babes.
Upon getting a biopsy, the results showed that it was Stage 2 Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
“I also learned that I was BRCA1 positive (testing positive means the individual has inherited a known harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 and, therefore, has an increased risk of developing certain cancers) which I already assumed since my mother passed away from breast cancer,” Burnham wrote.
Victoria’s mother wasn’t the only family member touched by the disease. Her sister is in remission, and more recently her aunt had a small lump removed from her breast. Burnham is the youngest of them all to get diagnosed.
“I’m currently going through chemotherapy treatments and will be finished at the end of October,” Burnham told Bake ‘n Babes.
Curry explained that all of the survivors who came in to take pictures with the Freak Shake wanted to donate additional funds to Burnham because they know how expensive treatment can be.
“They all know how important community support is during this time. We set up a page for her on mightycause.com — people to donate additional funds for her treatment,” Curry explains.
Don’t be left in the dark; whether you want to pop in for a shake or want to toss a few bucks Victoria’s way through mightycause.com, you’ll be doing your part to shed some light on a disease which harbors death rates that are second only to lung cancer when it comes to women in the United States.
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This article appears in Oct 3-10, 2019.