Annie Parker’s message for NZ women

News release, 19 October, 2014

Annie Parker’s message for NZ women;

Movie previews raise money for local research

The Canadian woman whose cancer battles inspired a Hollywood movie has a message for Kiwis.

“I believe there’s a reason I’ve survived cancer three times, and that is to bring hope to other families whose cancers may not yet be explained,” said Annie Parker, played by Samantha Morton in Decoding Annie Parker, which will screen at a charity previews in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland on Wednesday October 22 at 6pm, raising funds for the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation.

“There’s some great work being done in New Zealand in understanding genetic elements of breast cancer and developing genetically targeted treatments. But for us women, it starts with knowing our family history. Don’t assume there’s no breast cancer in your family just because you haven’t heard about it. Ask your mom, ask your grandma.”

The preview events next Wednesday will entertain and educate filmgoers about family breast cancer risk, while raising money for the Breast Cancer Patient Registers and other NZ Breast Cancer Foundation research projects.

Decoding Annie Parker, starring Helen Hunt, Samantha Morton and Aaron Paul, tells how Annie refused to believe the breast cancer stalking her family was coincidence, and how her story coincided with the discovery 20 years ago of the BRCA gene mutation by Dr Mary-Claire King, who made the cover of Time magazine for her BRCA work. The BRCA gene was most recently in the spotlight when Angelina Jolie was found to have the mutation.

Decoding Annie Parker’s pitch line is “Love, science, sex, infidelity, disease and comedy, the wild, mostly true story of the irrepressible Annie Parker and the almost discovery of a cure for cancer.”

Tickets cost $35 and include a glass of bubbles and a goody bag. For more information and bookings, visit www.nzbcf.org.nz/DecodingAnnieParker.

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