When senior Zak Reed drove across the Kansas River with his parents to see the bras across the bridge after moving here in 2009, he didn’t think much of it. Now, six years later, Reed believes the bras across the Kaw do not help with bringing awareness to breast cancer.

“I don’t know how it’s helping the community of people who have breast cancer, or the people affected by it because it’s not fundraising,” Reed, whose mother passed away of breast cancer in 2014, said.

According to healthcareaccess.org, the bras are hung to encourage and raise awareness for breast cancer. Bras are donated and decorated so they can be hung on the bridge going across the Kansas River. Although breast cancer awareness month is October, the bras are hung at the end of September, and taken down near the middle of October.

“If I were to drive across [the bridge], it’s not going to tell me to go online and donate to a breast cancer awareness fund,” Reed said.

Reed’s mom passed away from breast cancer on July 21st, 2014. She had breast cancer twice. She first found out about it in 2010, and went through six months of chemotherapy, and six weeks of radiation. She then went into remission, which means that all signs or symptoms of cancer has disappeared. In February 2012, her cancer came back.

“It was very very hard,” Reed said. “My family is very close, and we’re the one’s to think that we’re invincible and nothing can touch us. At first, we were very positive about it and had a good mind set and we used our faith a lot in the situation.”

When Reed’s mom attained cancer for the second time, she had more than one tumor. With a total of four tumors being found in her neck, between her trachea, in her armpit, and finally one under her left breast, doctors were unable to remove them all. The cancer began spreading to her lymph nodes, which is a system that spreads fluids throughout the body.

Her cancer had a very high probability of spreading to different parts of her body, so if you tried to remove a tumor, there were three more to remove, and the cancer would move throughout her body, and nothing could stop it. Doctors described it as incurable, but treatable, meaning they could make her life so that she could live it on a daily basis and hopefully not feel any pain.

“It was really hard because you spend your whole life with this person and you do things with them and then something like this happens,” Reed said. “They go through the treatments and at first it doesn’t affect them that much, and then it starts to take a toll on the body. Then, they’re always in bed and you can’t do much with them.”

Even though the bras across the Kansas River don’t fundraise for breast cancer, there are many places that you can donate for the cause. A few charities include Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Rose, breastcancer.org, and Living Beyond Breast Cancer. Many organizations take donations online.