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October is fast approaching and that means Breast Cancer Action month. As a breast cancer team the Pink Dragons are keen to help raise awareness by supporting fund raising events whenever they can so many of them are signing up to help collect for both the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal and the Pink Star Walk in Auckland Domain. Earlier in the year one team member hosted a Pink Ribbon Breakfast at her house supported by many of the Pinkies - it was a lot of fun as well as raising money for breast cancer.
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The latest edition of BCAC’s popular Step by Step support pack with new and updated information on breast cancer treatment and care is now flying off the shelves to newly diagnosed women around the country.
BCAC recently reviewed, updated and reprinted the much-loved breast cancer support pack. Step by Step’s new edition includes information that helps you cope with the emotional fallout of a breast cancer diagnosis and provides more details about how to best look after yourself after treatment.
This year we welcomed the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF) on board as principal funder of Step by Step, but many other organisations have also made generous contributions to ensure this valuable resource reaches as many women as possible.
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Want to know more about Casting for Recovery?
Then head to this in-store event at Rod and Reel in Newmarket, Auckland. On Saturday, September 6 at 10:30 am they will be hosting a fundraiser to raise money for the Casting for Recovery programme and to raise awareness about it.
Casting for Recovery aims to give recovery cancer patients a focus and means of getting up and getting active during the recovery process. The programme was founded in the US but now also has a branch here in New Zealand. It involves participation in fly fishing and getting in the outdoors.
Both Casting for Recovery representatives and former participants of the programme will be there to share their experiences.
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BCAC welcomes today’s announcement from the Ministry of Health that if your doctor suspects you have cancer, a new national health target will ensure you see a cancer specialist and receive treatment faster than ever before.
Health Minister Tony Ryall announced today that a new faster cancer treatment target will be introduced from 1 October.
“The new target will extend the scope of the current health target so people with suspected cancer receive faster access to all services from diagnostic tests to surgery or other treatment,” says Mr Ryall.
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Storage King St Luke’s in Auckland is shouldering a burden for a national breast cancer charity by providing free storage for thousands of support packs for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.
The Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition (BCAC) has just reviewed, rewritten and reprinted the Step by Step support and information pack it offers free of charge to the 3,000 New Zealanders diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
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A breast cancer clinical trial conducted in Australia and New Zealand gives hope to younger women with breast cancer who are keen to preserve their fertility during cancer treatment.
The results of the Prevention of Early Menopause Study (POEMS) have recently been presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago, USA.
The study examines the use of a drug called goserelin (also known as Zoladex®), which was given with standard chemotherapy medicines to a proportion of the 256 women aged 18 to 49 who participated in the trial in New Zealand, Australia and the USA.
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The Health Quality & Safety Commission's Consumer Engagement Team is providing funding to help consumers attend and participate in the Second Australasian Long-Term Conditions Conference: Health - the art of the possible at Waipuna Lodge and Conference Centre, Mt Wellington, Auckland.
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The Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition’s (BCAC) Step by Step support pack for those newly diagnosed with breast cancer is bigger and better than ever following an extensive review to enhance the resource.
Around 5,000 copies of the third edition of Step by Step have just been published and this year BCAC welcomes the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF) as principal funder for the much-loved support pack, which features an information book, a diary to record medical procedures and a journal.
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Better breast cancer treatment and care for all New Zealanders should be on the horizon thanks to the introduction of new national standards for breast cancer care.
The Standards of Service Provision for Breast Cancer Patients in New Zealand were developed by a clinical working group chaired by renowned Waikato breast surgeon Ian Campbell and made up of cancer experts, such as surgeons, oncologists, nurses, and consumer representatives including BCAC’s Libby Burgess.
The standards describe the care and services a person with breast cancer should have access to, no matter where they live in the country.
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An Auckland breast cancer survivor, who recently posted pictures of herself topless online in order to celebrate the gift of life that comes from the decision to have a mastectomy, was just one of the subjects in an exhibition by photographer Lara Boddington which took place in Devonport, Auckland last month.