One in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 85. By the year 2020 47 women a day will be diagnosed with breast cancer. It is estimated that 2,700 Australian women will lose their lives to breast cancer in 2014. However, there is hope that we can reduce this number as early detection can save lives and is the key to surviving breast cancer. The aim for BreastAware is to educate women of the need for self breast examination and teach them the correct method through our workshops and seminars. Educating and empowering women and men to take control of their personal health and wellbeing, giving them the awareness, knowledge and tools to help reduce the number of women/men losing their breast and lives to breast cancer. This program will save lives. We educate on the risks and signs of breast cancer and the correct procedure for self breast examination. This is the only program of its kind in Australia.
40 women a day are diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia; that’s one every 36 minutes. Early detection of breast cancer is the key to survival. Our aim is to reach out to many groups of women’s with these workshops. Increasingly more young women are being diagnosed with cancer and that is the reason we are also taking our program into schools. This program is presented in a workshop format and is aimed at Senior High School Girls to help them understand more about their breast development, body image, knowing their own bodies and knowing what is normal for them. We will be educating them on the anatomy of the breast and how to care for their breasts. With education they will understand the changes that can occur in the breast tissue as they develop. We will be explaining the risks of breast cancer and giving hands-on demonstration (utilizing breast prostheses) on how to do self breast exams (BSE) and why early detection is the key to survival. We will give them an understanding of the different lumps and bumps in their breast tissue that they may sense so that they are not alarmed and understand what their breasts feel like ‘normally’. This means that they will be able to then identify and understand when something is not normal for them and hence know when they need to go and get checked by the doctor. We want to change their mindset so that by the time they reach the risk age for breast cancer, they are already in the habit of breast self examination (BSE) or at least know that they should be starting to do it (BSE) by the age of 20. Once they leave school, there may not be another chance to gather together large groups of young women to educate them, so that is why I we would like to get to them just before they leave school. The fact is it is harder to detect cancer in young women with mammograms due to the denseness of their breast tissue. It is for this reason that breast self examination is vital for ages 20-40 and this needs to continue regularly so they are able to identify any changes in their breasts immediately.
“Until such times that we have a cure for cancer we need to focus on the prevention. Unfortunately I have had to fit prostheses on far too many women who have had a breast removed due to breast cancer. It is my hope that this program can prevent women from losing their breasts or even worse, their lives, to breast cancer and if I can do this for even just one woman, then it has all been worthwhile.”
Maralyn Young
Founder and Presenter
