If you’re a regular reader, let us start by reassuring you. No there hasn’t been a mix-up at the printers: this month is of course Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we decided to mark it with a special collector’s item of a cover.
- Raising male awareness of breast cancer
- The mental impact of breast cancer cannot be ignored
- Breast cancer in images
But our intentions here aren’t purely aesthetic. Breast cancer remains the UK’s most common cancer, accounting for 15% of diagnoses, and the most common cause of death for women aged 50-64. According to the breast cancer charity CoppaFeel!, 1 in 7 women will be diagnosed during their lifetime. Few families will escape a brush with this awful disease. As a three-year-old back in the 1970s, I lost a much beloved gran with a genius for spontaneous story-telling; as an adult I saw my mum get a very speedy diagnosis and life-saving surgery in the golden age of the NHS in the 2000s. (Lest we forget, the disease can also afflict men, and around 400 are diagnosed every year).
The news is not all atrocious. As with most common cancers, survival rates have dramatically improved since the beginning of the century. Deaths have fallen by two thirds since the 1990s: 97% of those diagnosed will be alive after one year, and 80% can expect to survive at least 10 years.
But in its wake this brings new challenges. The most intriguing one for me is the mental health support, survivors require after the shock of diagnosis, and the often extensive treatment required to beat the disease. A problem that was unimaginable in my gran’s time, but one which must be tackled.
So for one month, we raise a glass (of something pink) to the women fighting the disease and the clinicians supporting them – for the battles won, and the triumphs of the future.