Increased awareness and early detection will help beat a killer
BREAST cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and will affect one in nine women at some point in their lives.
The nation has recently mourned the loss of Eastenders legend Wendy Richard, who died on last Thursday aged 65.
The actress had endured two battles with breast cancer in the mid-1990s and in 2002.
The disease went into remission after years of gruelling treatment, but last year it returned in an aggressive form, attacking her kidneys, bones and spine.
Breast cancer kills almost 12,500 in this country each year, but research shows that there is a greater chance of survival if breast cancer is detected earlier.
It occurs when something disrupts the natural systems within the body which regulate the formation, growth and death of the cells.
When this process is disrupted, the cells divide and develop without their normal control and grow into a lump called a tumour. Tumours are either benign or malignant, cancer is the name given to a malignant tumour.
There are certain risk factors associated with breast cancer, but essentially it can happen to anyone – even men.
For example, the risk is reduced by having a child at a younger age, breastfeeding and having more than one child.
Other risk factors include:
* Age – about 80 per cent of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer are over 50 and half of those are over 60.
* The contraceptive pill – although the level of risk returns to normal after a woman stops taking it.
* Starting your periods early in life or having a late menopause.
* A family history of breast cancer.
* Being overweight after the menopause.
* Alcohol – the more a woman drinks each day the greater the risk.
* Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with the risk increasing the longer it's taken, but within five years of stopping HRT the risk returns to normal.
If a tumour is detected as soon as possible, then there is a good chance it can be treated successfully. The more the cancer has spread, the more difficult it is to treat.
Therefore it is incredibly important to be breast aware by checking your breasts regularly.
Just follow this five point code, not just today but every day:
* Know what is normal for you
* Look and feel
* Know what changes to look for
* Report any changes without delay
* Attend breast screening if aged 50 or over.
These are the changes to look for and if you are in any doubt, visit your doctor:
* A lump or thickening which is different to the rest of the breast tissue
* Continuous pain in one part of the breast or armpit
* One breast becomes larger or lower
* A nipple becomes inverted or changes shape or position
* Skin changes including puckering or dimpling
* Swelling under the armpit or around the collarbone
* A rash on or around the nipple
* Discharge from one or both nipples.
International Women's Day, on Sunday, is the perfect opportunity to organise a fundraising event in support of Breast Cancer Campaign.
Angela Kelly, Breast Cancer Campaign's Community Executive, said "Anyone can hold a fundraising event for the Campaign, no matter how large or small. Whether it's a coffee morning or a karaoke night in the local pub, get your girls together and help the charity beat breast
cancer."
Campaign funds research all across the UK, so your support could help to fund a research project in your local area.
For more information please call 020 7749 3700 or email Angela Kelly at akelly@breastcancercampaign.org.
Cancer support groups in Scarborough include:
* Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale Cancer Information and Support Service which meets at Scarborough Library on the first and third Wednesday of every month from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Free advice and support is available. The group also meets at Pickering, Whitby and Malton.
For more details call Mrs Cox on (01723)
356060.
* Friday Friends breast cancer support group meets on the second Friday of every month at 7pm at the Duchess pub in Hovingham Drive.
New members are always welcome. For more information call Jenny Hay on (01723) 366557.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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