A cause worth going the distance for

Oct 4 2007 by Paul Corcoran, Liverpool Daily Post

OCTOBER welcomes the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which asks everyone to get in the pink to help raise understanding and funds for people affected by breast cancer. Pink ribbon, anyone?

As this is the very first “Pink” edition of Style City, I thought what better time for me to learn some more about this issue which affects so many women . . . and men.

Approximately 40,000 women and 300 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, with the lifetime risk of women developing the disease in the UK being 1 in 9.

Scary stuff, to say the least, but doctors say that the good news is that, if caught early enough, breast cancer is no longer the death sentence that it once appeared to be.

Back in 1977, just 52% of victims beat the disease, but survival rates have now soared to around 80%, with that number climbing year on year. According to experts, these improved survival rates are based on improved chemotherapy, which is now more likely to stop the cancer spreading; hormone therapy, which can stop the cancer returning; better rates of detection through the national screening programme and often most importantly; increased awareness.

According to experts, it is a greater understanding in our society that is helping to keep the number of victims as low as possible, as public figures and celebrities across the world raise their hands and “vote no” to breast cancer.

Love them or loathe them, many celebrities deserve a serious pat on the pack for the invaluable work they do in promoting awareness in the battle against breast cancer. The ex-Prime Minister’s wife, Cherie Blair, international pop star Anastacia and, let’s not forget the numero-uno Wag herself, Coleen McLough- lin, are just some of the celebrities who have stepped up to the plate and pledged their support.

It is these people who are in the papers, on the radio and the television each day that help bring the message home and who, thankfully, help encourage women across the UK to check themselves for any abnormalities.

Take Australia’s (and the UK’s) sweetheart, Kylie Minogue, as an example. When the “Princess of Pop” declared her own illness in 2005, cancer charities the world over reported not only a rush of donations but calls to Breast Cancer Care UK doubled, as women rang to try and find out how to check their breasts for lumps. Even sales for pink wristbands, which help raise funds and act as visual cues for the charity, saw a significant increase.

But it’s not only the celebrities who are doing their bit urging women to undergo checks – there are plenty of ordinary people and local companies, too. Take Hota (Health on the Agenda) for example, a Liverpool-based organisation owned and ran by Mandy Meaghan.

Hota travels the region performing shows that inform women (and men) about a range of health-related concerns that many of us are too frightened to talk about. Even I, believe it or not, go slightly quiet when it comes to the health front.

Mandy uses a uniquely humorous combination of methods to get her message across, aptly coined as edu-tainment, which help break down the barriers we have and which get us talking and, most importantly, checking our own bodies.

And so, with breast cancer awareness in mind, whether you wear a pink badge, attend one of the many fundraising events taking place in the city, or don your runners for a sponsored marathon – it is up to us all to get involved.

I am sure you will agree that this is most definitely one cause worth going the extra mile for.