Please support tomorrow’s Pink Ribbon Appeal

News Release – 13 October, 2016

Please support tomorrow’s Pink Ribbon Appeal

The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation is asking Kiwis everywhere to support its Pink Ribbon Appeal tomorrow and Saturday. Collectors will be shaking their pink buckets on the streets and at shopping centres around the country, aiming to raise funds for research into new targeted treatments, medical equipment for our hospitals, life-saving awareness and education programmes, and support for women going through breast cancer.

“We have thousands of volunteers who have generously committed their time to this week’s appeal,” says NZBCF chief executive Van Henderson. “Now we need Kiwis everywhere to drop a coin in the bucket – your gift helps us work towards our long term vision of zero deaths from breast cancer.”

With breast cancer the most common cancer for New Zealand women – eight women a day are diagnosed, and one in nine women will be diagnosed in their lifetime – almost everyone knows someone affected by the disease. Research shows that the earlier breast cancer is detected, the better the outcome, so the NZBCF is reminding women this month of the importance of being breast aware and of going for their mammograms.

“A mammogram can mean the difference between relief and despair,” says Mrs Henderson. “Women should consider annual mammograms from age 40, then have mammograms every two years from age 50. If you’re under 50, you need to be breast aware – know the normal look and feel of your breasts so you can report changes to your doctor.”

The mammogram reminder is backed by data showing significantly greater breast cancer survival for NZ women within the free screening age group (45-69) when their tumour is found on a mammogram.

According to the Auckland Breast Cancer Register, of women aged 45-69 whose cancer was found on a screening mammogram, 94% were alive five years after diagnosis, and 86% ten years after diagnosis. For those women who found their cancer through a lump or other symptom, five-year survival was 80%, and ten-year survival just 68%.

Visit the Foundation’s www.anychanges.co.nz site for more information about signs of breast cancer and how to check your breasts.

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