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Sweet Louise currently has 444 members, and since their launch in 2006, they have supported more than 1400 men and women with metastatic breast cancer. One of the key areas of focus this year has been family support.
Following a survey earlier this year, the Auckland bi-monthly Men's Group now have a speaker at each meeting, and this is appealing to more men supporting their family members with life threatening illness.
A new study has revealed the benefits of mammograms for women aged 75 years and older.
The research, published in the journal Radiology, shows that mammogram-detected breast cancers are found at an earlier stage; require less treatment; and lead to better survival rates.
The American researchers examined the records of 1,162 women aged 75 and older who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1990 and 2011. Over the 21-year study period, 64 per cent of the breast cancers were diagnosed with mammography and 36 per cent were found by either the patient or the patient's doctor.
Over the last ten years, YWCA Auckland has delivered Encore, a free gentle exercise programme for women who have had breast cancer treatment, helping over 3,000 women from Kerikeri down to Invercargill. Participants have ranged in age from 29 to 91, and over 80 women have trained to become facilitators.
Following research and needs assessment, the YWCA Auckland Board has re-evaluated its current programmes and decided that the organisation needs to refocus efforts on younger women under the age of 40. This, combined with issues around the financial sustainability of the Encore programme, has led to the decision that YWCA Auckland will no longer be delivering Encore as of 2015.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
