Staying healthy is a foundation to looking your best. Take the time to become 'breast aware' - this page tells you the basics and tells you how to access more information.
Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Their website has an excellent page on Breast Awareness. We urge you to take a look at this page, and use it as a guide to developing awareness of your breasts.
This group of women used the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square London to draw attention to the charity, and the issue of making women 'breast aware'.
Recent stories in the press have drawn attention to women who have chosen to have mastectomies because they have a strong family history of breast cancer, and carry faults in known breast cancer genes, such as BRCA1 or BRCA2. This could give the impression that you are most likely to develop breast cancer if you have had a relative with the disease. However, this is not true! Here’s what it says on the Breakthrough website: ‘It is important to remember that the majority of breast cancers occur in women who don’t have any close family members with the disease. The risk of having hereditary breast cancer is low. In fact it is believed that only around 5% of all breast cancers are due to inherited faults in breast cancer genes such as BRCA 1 or BRCA2 that lead to a high risk of developing the disease.’
In fact, most breast cancers are detected by women who report unusual changes to their doctors. Breakthrough encourages all women to show their breasts some TLC: Touch your breasts and feel for anything unusual, Look for any changes and Check anything unusual with your GP.
For details see: Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
About the charity:
In 1999, Breakthrough Breast Cancer opened the first dedicated breast cancer research facility in the UK - the Breakthrough Toby Robins Breast Cancer Research Centre housed in the Mary-Jean Mitchell Green building at the Chester Beatty Laboratories at The Institute of Cancer Research. The centre is now almost at full capacity, so three further research units are being set up in partnership with The University of Edinburgh, King’s College London and The University of Manchester.
Each unit will have a specific focus that complements the work of the Breakthrough Research Centre.
There are a large number of different types of breast cancer – it is not a single disease. Different cancers respond to different treatments, and there are still a lot of unknown factors. Therefore, there is a pressing need for research.
Please take the time to look at their excellent website: www.breakthrough.org.uk
Here are some ideas of what you could do to support this charity:
1. Maximise what you do give. If you are a tax-payer, make sure you use Gift Aid. This allows the charity to reclaim the tax you have already paid on any money you donate, and can increase the value of your gift by up to 28p on every pound. All basic-rate taxpayers have to do is complete a declaration saying that they pay enough tax to cover what Breakthrough will reclaim from Revenue & Customs.
2. Give as you earn. If you are in paid employment, your employer may offer a payroll giving scheme, such as Give asYou Earn. Donations made through these schemes are taken from your salary before it is taxed, so that a donation of £10 a month effectively costs a lower rate taxpayer only £7.80.
3. Organise a sponsored walk:This can be any kind of walk - from a stroll in the park, to a ramble in the countryside to raise vital funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s vital research, campaigning and education work. Email crocuswalk@breakthrough.org.uk or visit www.crocuswalk.org.uk
4. Not up to walking? You could organise a coffee morning, or even hold a sponsored supper with friends – the possibilities are as wide as your imagination. For more information about how you can fundraise for Breakthrough Breast Cancer visit www.breakthrough.org.uk
