October is International Breast Cancer Awareness Month an I have the honour of supporting planetexpat.com in their efforts of providing expat women with the information they need for their well-being.
The article below was written by Clare Cochrane of PlanetExpat.com.
Woman CareThe governments and health authorities of the world may be only slowly waking up to the rising number of new breast cancer cases, but women have acted quickly to create organisations to support each other through this terrifying health crisis.
International Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October is not only a chance to bring international attention to this global scourge - it's also a celebration of the many ways that women have come together to care for each other and raise awareness of the importance of breast health.
Fun-raising!
Some groups focus on fundraising - and the award for the most ingenious and definitively feminine approach has to go to Walk the Walk ( http://www.walkthewalk.org ) and its Moonwalk marathon in London. Picture 3,000 women, dressed in running shorts and decorated bras, powerwalking through the streets of London at midnight, and you'll have an inkling of the spirit of this fundraising group. It's the brainchild of Nina Baroughs, who began the "young but dynamic charity" in 1996, when she recruited 12 other women to powerwalk the New York Marathon dressed in customised Wonderbras, to raise money for the research charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer. "It was only meant to be a one-off!" Nina laughs. But it was so much fun, she started working towards the 1997 London Marathon. Then Nina was diagnosed with breast cancer herself. Her doctors scheduled her treatment plan around the marathon, and Walk the Walk went ahead and raised US$36,000. "I honestly don't know whether I supported Walk the Walk or it supported me!" Nina says. This year, Walk the Walk is entering the Beijing Marathon for the second time, inspiring women in Asia with their message of fun, fitness and awareness.
Take action
Other groups focus on empowering women through knowledge and action - and aiming to impact government policy and media coverage of breast cancer. This theme of empowerment through action lies at the heart of Breast Cancer Action's ( http://www.bcaction.org ) mission. Originally formed in San Francisco, BCA works on the premise that each woman who works to change the way that breast cancer is dealt with by the media and addressed by policymakers will experience change in herself. As Program Coordinator Diane DeLara explains: "In the beginning we were modelled after the AIDS activists, who really inspired people to be more informed and active in their own treatment, at the same time as being outspoken in a political sense ... We have an in-your-face philosophy of telling things like they are." Action is taken by Task Forces, "which are alerted to opportunities to take action such as going to a demonstration at a polluting factory, speaking at a neighbourhood health fair, writing a letter to an editor in response to an article, and writing to legislators about policy". As BCA's late founder Elenore Pred put it: "This is not an individual woman's personal tragedy; it is a tragedy for all women and together we have the power to change things."
