Fashion Victim: Why we should all be pink ladies this month

Oct 2 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

EVERY year, some 45,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK, and almost 12,000 will die from it. Each month, over 3,800 women will be told by a doctor or surgeon that they have the disease and over 1,000 will die.

These statistics taken from Breast Cancer Campaign’s website are terrifying.

But the fact is that breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, and one in nine women will be diagnosed with it in their lifetime.

October is ,of course, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a month filled with pink ribbons and pink parties and pink cocktails and T-shirts with bows and all girls together in an effort to raise money and fight the “big C” that blights so many lives.

But, behind all the fun events and celebrities posing in their pink pants, there is a very serious message that no woman, whatever her age or circumstances, can afford not to be breast aware.

Which is why, this week, I am dropping my usual obsession with all things fashion and frothy and using these column inches and this issue of Style City to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The month was introduced as a worldwide campaign in 1993 by Evelyn Lauder, of the Estee Lauder beauty company, to increase awareness of the disease, to raise funds for research and to support those affected by it.

Some 15 years later, and every major cancer charity in the UK continues to champion the cause every October, and the pink ribbon has become a global symbol of breast cancer awareness.

The following four pages are packed with ways in which you can help raise money for various breast cancer charities, from buying pyjamas to wearing something pink for Wear it Pink day on October 31, while opposite you will find the inspirational story of breast cancer survivor Joan Elmer.

The risk of developing breast cancer is linked to age, and eight in 10 breast cancers are diagnosed in women aged 50 and over. But that is no excuse to be complacent.

Pop superstar Kylie Minogue, left, was just 37 when she was told she had breast cancer but, as her return to the stage last year showed, the good news is, thanks to earlier detection and improved treatment, more women than ever are surviving breast cancer.

I am lucky not to have had anyone close to me suffer breast cancer, but it does not stop me checking my breasts to stay safe.

The obvious sign to look for is any lump or thickening in your breast, but continuous pain in one part of your breast or armpit, a nipple changing position or becoming inverted, skin puckering or dimpling, a rash on or around the nipple or discharge from one or both nipples are all reasons to worth getting checked out by the doctor.

It takes just a few minutes to check yourself but those few minutes could save your life.

FOR more information about breast cancer, or Breast Cancer Awareness Month, see www. breastcancercare.org.uk