The North Bay Warriors of Hope ‘Big Bra’ Event kicked of Breast Cancer Awareness Month at the North Bay Waterfront Wednesday afternoon.
The kick off, held in association with the Nipissing & Area Breast Health Coalition and the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, was aimed at reminding women of all ages the importance of routine breast exams and to demonstrate that there is life after breast cancer.
Warrior of Hope member, Liz Chirico, says that she is a prime example of how important early detection can be as she is a third generation survivor who was diagnosed with breast cancer before she hit the age of forty.
“Interestingly enough when my mother was first diagnosed, I think the first words out of her mouth were ‘how can this be’, which is interesting because I think still even at that moment you’re still not thinking it can happen to you regardless of the history we had demonstrated at that point.”
“It’s just a matter of getting to know your body and getting to know when something just isn’t right … something that doesn’t feel normal, something that wasn’t there before
“I think that’s it’s really important for anybody to know what the risks are and to get everything that they can get from the system to take care of it,” states Chirico.
Celine Rivet, Co-chair of the Nipissing Breast Health Coalition and public health nurse, says that support and information is available for every woman to learn the basic self-breast exam.
“The nurse practitioner or your doctor can show you how to do it. There’s also brochures that you can pick up at the local cancer society or at the health unit. There are also some videos available if women want to call in and borrow the videos to look at how it should be done,” she says.
“And what you’re actually looking for a change from the last time you did (an exam), so the more regular you do it the more apt you are to find something, a change that might have happened since last month.”
Rivet says a woman usually knows her body fairly well, but that there are obvious signs a woman might see signalling something is not quite right.
“Actually, once you get to know what your breast normally feels like, it’s either a discharge from the nipple, it could be a some kind of crusting at the nipple, it could be a change in colour, it could be a change in texture. Because normal breast tissue feels like lumpy oatmeal, you’re looking for any change that has happened.”
Rivet says cost is never a prohibitive factor for a woman when it comes to breast health but would like to see the age for breast-screening access lowered.
“If your doctor refers you for a mammography because he sees that there is a need or a concern it’s still free, the only difference is that women 50 years of age and over can take it upon themselves to call the Ontario breast-screening program and get an appointment themselves.”
“We’re trying to advocate for women (40-years-old and up) who are especially at high risk because they have a family history of breast cancer or other issues, so that they can become part of that program as well.”
“There’s a long way to go because research needs to prove that this breast-screening venue is the best one for the women that age. Because when the women are under 50 years of age the breast is usually denser and it’s harder to see if there’s anything abnormal.”
