October 27th , Monday is Breast Cancer Awareness Day, but the whole month of October is usually feted with as much pink ribbon activities as possible to mark the awareness. Some history of the pink ribbon here. The pink ribbon idea was started by Susan Komen in her effort to promote the awareness of breast cancer and the lack of government funding in researching its prevention. It was then undertaken by the Estee Lauder group to spread this awareness by ensuring their branches worldwide gave away the ribbons or did promotional activities related to the pink ribbon or the color pink.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women after skin cancer. More than a million cases are detected worldwide each year. The best way to cure is through prevention. Breast cancer can be prevented especially with early detection and the easiest way is via breast self examination (BSE). If detected early the survival rate is as high as 98 percent.

Breast cancer can afflict anyone even those as young as their late twenties or thirties although most commonly among women over fifty.It happens to anyone whether sexually active or not, it happens whether you are famous or not. It can happen without any family history and about 1 percent of patients are men. Some famous examples of survivors through early detection are Kylie Minogue, Anastasia and Christina Applegate.

Best time to do self examination is a few days after your period because breasts are less lumpy then. Get your local GP to teach you how, or else go to specific sites or organization that specializes in cancer to learn how. I still remember some years back when I went to a GP for a flu treatment and in truth, also to persuade her to give me a medical cert (MC) so that I could go back to rest. I therefore engaged her in some conversation about health which struck a chord with her because she started asking me if I do my own BSE (breast self examination) , I didn’t then. So she went on about how important it was and more importantly the one thing she said that I still remember till today is about how sensitive our fingertips are and that if we do BSE regularly, our senses will be so attuned that the fingertips will detect the slightest change in the breasts.

What she is trying to say is, because of our gut instinct ,this way out deep thing inside most of us, you know the one that whispers to you in your gut, is closely related to our neurons and nerves , so what we think is gut instinct could very well be the communication from the nerves to our brains and telling something us amiss .And it may prompt us to do one of two things. We listen and some call it intuition and do something about it, ie professional consultation or we just shrug it off and let some thing else more “important ” like going out with friends or deadlines and busy schedules take priority.

The human body is a highly complex thing, all parts are like separate entities but collectively they function to serve the body’s survival with the brains as the decision maker but the subconscious mind or more common term “gut instinct” is the total master of the whole body who deciphers everything and sends the information to the brains (conscious mind), who then makes decisions and takes actions. So the congruency of both mind and subconscious mind is very important. If at anytime your instincts tell you something is not right, listen up before it manifests physically in or on your body!

Be aware now… help yourself and others, because knowledge is power!

Where to get help:
National Cancer Society of Malaysia (www.cancer.org.my)

Breast Cancer Welfare Association (www.radiologymalaysia.org/breasthealth/bcwaindex.htm)

Pride Foundation (www.pride.org)

Some activities:
The Estee Lauder Companies Breast Cancer Roadshows get free advice and demos on how to do own BSE by nurses from Pantai Hospital and members of the BCWA (Breast Cancer Welfare Association)

Dates:
3-5 October , Suria KLCC
10-12 October -I Utama Shopping Center
17-19 October Pavillion KL
24-27 October , Midvalley Megamall

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