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Imagine popping out to the supermarket for the weekly shop, only to come back with a breast cancer diagnosis.
It may sound scary but it’s not, not really.
Catching cancer early – such as through a mammogram – vastly increases your chance of a full recovery. For many of these women, chemotherapy isn’t even needed as part of their treatment.
But despite the simplicity of a mammogram procedure – it’s offered to women over 50 and takes just 30 minutes – at least one million women have not attended screenings. Of that number, around 8,000 have breast cancer without realising.
In a bid to change this narrative, healthcare professionals have turned to ‘pop-up’ breast cancer screenings in supermarket car parks.
Dame Laura Lee is chief executive of Maggies – a charity which provides free cancer support and information in centres across the UK. She says she’s tired of the excuse that women don’t have time for a mammogram.
Speaking on the Mammograms and Me podcast, she said: ‘No more “oh, I’m in the middle of my shopping” or “oh, I need to get home and cook my children‘s dinner.”
‘Take a moment to look after yourself in the way that you might take time to look after other aspects of your life or look after other people.’
Dame Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie’s Cancer Care centres, says women need to make time for their own health (Picture: Nick Edwards)
A routine mammogram can detect cancer before it has the chance to spread (Picture: Getty Images)
Women often put off attending potentially life-saving mammogram appointments. Many mistakenly think they don’t need to go if they don’t have symptoms, while others fear the procedure could be painful.
In this week’s episode of Mammograms and Me – hosted by Dawn Butler MP – Dame Laura was joined by Alice Davies of Cancer Research UK and Addie Mitchell of Breast Cancer Now.
The trio discussed the impact of AI on the healthcare industry, the ‘epidemic’ of retiring radiologists and what to really say to someone who has been diagnosed with cancer.
Dame Laura continued: ‘Breast cancer diagnosis is a big scary thing and the link between the mammogram and the possibility of a diagnosis can be daunting for people. They fear how cancer could impact their life in terms of disruption.’
Alice – highlighting statistics from Cancer Research UK – stressed that mammograms shouldn’t be feared.
She told the podcast: ‘Catching cancer at an early stage means the treatment is more likely to be successful.
Dame Laura Lee, Alice Davies, Addie Mitchell appear on the latest episode of Mammograms and Me (Picture: Getty; Shutterstock)
Thousands of women have neglected to attend potentially life-saving mammogram appointments (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
‘The treatment will be less harsh and is more likely to work.’
There’s still a long way to go in persuading women to make sure essential breast cancer screenings aren’t missed.
But it’s not just our own busy schedules impacting the issue, but the healthcare industry as a whole.
Addie Mitchell – of Breast Cancer Now – works to support people at all stages of their cancer journey.
The charity has a bold action plan. By 2050, they’ve declared ‘everyone who develops breast cancer will live’.
But this will only be made possible with greater awareness and better investment into the NHS.
Addie told the podcast: ‘Breast screening services are currently overstretched and underfunded, and they have been for some years now. NHS workers are working so hard to keep up.
‘Post covid – and even pre-covid — the number of women going to mammograms has been on the decline. We need to take action.’
Mammograms and Me
Dawn Butler MP is on a mission to #FindtheMissingMilllion (Picture: Natasha Pszenicki)
Thousands of women in the UK are thought to be completely unaware they have breast cancer right now.
In a bid to reduce the startling number, MP Dawn Butler has launched the ‘Mammograms and Me’ podcast with Metro to shed light on the reality of living with breast cancer.
Over the next six weeks, with a series of special guests, she will share her own experience of a breast cancer diagnosis, bust myths and share inspiring stories with those who haven’t just survived, but are thriving after their battle with cancer.
Interviewees include former surgeon Liz O’Riordan and actress Victoria Ekanoye.
The podcast comes after the Labour MP for Brent created the #FindTheMillion campaign with Metro to encourage women to sign up for mammograms.
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‘Take a moment to look after yourself in the way that you might take time to look after other aspects of your life or look after other people.’