Kāpiti residents will have noticed over the last couple of days the volunteers in pink helping out to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM). Celebrated annually, BCAM first began in 1985 to raise awareness and improve education about breast cancer.
Local organiser Dianne Rice says the public have responded very generously.
“We have a fantastic group of volunteers and besides donating we have also heard many personal stories from those directly or indirectly affected by breast cancer.”
Dianne came to the role via Volunteer Kāpiti and she says it is a great way of giving back to our community.
By the way it should be noted the names of the four volunteers; Amanda, Anne, Ann-Marie and Dianne does not mean anyone without an ann in their name cannot volunteer.
Throughout October, towns across New Zealand will be painted pink and volunteers will be raising funds for the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal on 18 and 19 October.
This month Breast Cancer Foundation NZ is also calling for all New Zealand women to make knowing and checking their breasts a regular part of their routine.
The biggest two risks for breast cancer are having breasts and ageing. Big ones, small ones, old ones, young(ish) ones. It doesn’t matter.
If you have breasts, you need to know the normal look and feel of them.
Breast cancers found early (stage one and two) have a 92% survival rate. Currently 15% of all diagnoses are late stage (stage three and four). This number is stubborn. It hasn’t moved in over a decade. We want the best possible outcome for everyone diagnosed with breast cancer. We can work together to move the needle towards early diagnosis.
In August, BCF commissioned Ipsos to carry out a new survey of 1,000 New Zealanders to find out about their breast awareness.
The survey found there is high levels of understanding of breast awareness amongst New Zealanders. This is awesome. New Zealanders know that checking their breasts can help drive early detection. However, not everyone is actually doing it.
The vast majority of respondents (92%) know they should check their breasts but over half (57%) forget to do it.
Most people (80%) know the normal look and feel of their breasts and most (79%) said they know what to do if they find a change in their breast.
However, 43% of women haven’t looked at their breasts in the mirror and 40% haven’t felt their breasts to check for changes in the last six months. Together, we can turn this knowledge into action.
This October, we have a chance to reset. To learn what is normal for you and make checking your breasts a regular part of self-care.
For more information see: https://www.breastcancerfoundation.org.nz
To donate see: https://fundraise.bcf.org.nz/donate
