As you may already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you didn’t know that already, we live and learn!
Now, this is a matter that is very close to a lot of people’s hearts, mine included.
Breast Cancer Awareness month is all about ensuring this horrible disease is not invisible to the public eye. This is to help raise the awarness of the early signs and how to check yourself for these early signs of the disease.
It is a horrible disease and around 55,000 women and 370 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with one woman being diagnosed every 10 minutes.
Research by Breast Cancer Now, only done in 2018. This research found that less than half (48{e35e70c41184f2b830a682054c48ba10800998fdf62b47d0d6963521afaab13b}) of British women, regularly checking for signs of breast cancer. While almost one in ten (8{e35e70c41184f2b830a682054c48ba10800998fdf62b47d0d6963521afaab13b}) had never checked themselves at all. Lets get this statistic changed and show that it is a very normal thing to check your own body for any changes.
Some common reasons for not checking:
- Forgot (41{e35e70c41184f2b830a682054c48ba10800998fdf62b47d0d6963521afaab13b})
- Dont feel confident in checking (21{e35e70c41184f2b830a682054c48ba10800998fdf62b47d0d6963521afaab13b})
Checking yourself on a weekly basis, will greatly reduce the chance that cancer can progress past the early stages undetected. There is currently a massive campaign headed by Lorraine Kelly called ‘Check and Change’, have you seen the stickers around lately? They can help you and your loved ones in detecting the early signs of breast cancer, and they are now becoming common sight in changing rooms across the country.
For a few examples:
- David Lloyd,
- John Lewis,
- Asda,
- Monsoon
- M&S
Have you seen them anywhere else?
Here is a short video by Dr Hilary, explaining how to perform a self-examination:
Always remember to look out for these most critical early signs:
- Changes in size or shape
- Swelling or lump in the breast, armpit or upper chest, either by touch or sight
- Any colour changes, or discolouration
- Change is skin texture
- Rash or changes to the nipple.
- Discharge from the nipple
Examining yourself regularly, you will notice any small changes.
No matter how big or small the change is, just go to the Doctors.
We at the Pilates Rooms want to do our bit for this amazing charity, we are going to show our support by wearing pink.
This will be the week beginning Sunday 27th October.
So everyone needs to wear something pink to class this week.
We will have a charity box on the desk if anyone would like to donate.
Looking forward to seeing you all in pink next week.