On the pulse...for people affected by breast cancer

On the pulse

Cancerkin News…
Hyde Park Walk Sponsorship: Prize deadline drawing near…
This year Floris very kindly donated a set of prizes to Cancerkin to be awarded to the top three fundraisers from this years Hyde Park Walk. Next Friday, the 13th August, Cancerkin will be adding up all the donations to see which of our loyal supporters has raised the most! To be in with a chance of winning you MUST send your sponsorship in to the Cancerkin Centre before this date. Any sponsorship raised online via the JustGiving site will also be included. Further sponsorship or donations for the Hyde Park Walk will be accepted after this date, however your contributions will not be considered for the Floris prize giving. So don’t miss out- send in all your sponsorship today!

An intern down…
One of our summer interns, Guy Mollett recently completed his month long internship with the Cancerkin Centre. His help was invaluable and we wish him the best of luck for the rest of his academic studies.

In The News….
How the blogosphere is helping young people come to terms with cancer diagnosis...
In recent months we have covered many stories highlighting the growth in cancer diagnosis among the young. Research conducted by the Teenage Cancer Trust published in The Guardian this week showed how the digital revolution, with its blogospheres and social networking sights (such as Facebook and Twitter), are being used more and more by the younger generation as a support system for dealing with their diagnosis. Focusing on how ‘blogging’ has allowed individuals, specifically cancer sufferers, to express their emotions and feelings in an open and frank way, the article touches a nerve with the kind of things these young people are dealing with.

24 year old Kristin Hallenga from Northamptonshire who suffers from secondary breast cancer says ‘the blog is a place where I don't have to hold back, I can be open and honest. I might say things on there that I wouldn't necessarily say directly to my mum, sisters or anyone else. It helps me to vent a little about how I might be feeling. I share what it is like going through breast cancer’. Hallenga’s blog also raises awareness of other contentious issues and signs of cancer that may encourage other women to seek earlier checking. For instance she discusses how her own Grandmother’s cancer was not ‘classed as a strong family history to be taken consideration by doctors; though it should have been’.

Cancerkin has long recognised the need individuals have to talk about how they are feeling regarding their treatment in a non-patronising or intrusive way. Our one-to-one sessions with experienced patients and general support services are always available to anyone who may need it. However, if you feel that Cancerkin would benefit from helping support our patients in other ways, do let us know - we are always keen to improve our services. Alternatively if you are patient who has set up their own blogosphere or other support mechanism, please get in contact - you never know who you may help or inspire with your own words!

To read Kristin’s story in full along with the other young people featured in the article please click here. Following this link will also direct you to the address of the young people’s blogsites.

Is early breast screening really harming women?
The UK’s national breast screening programme which tests almost 2 million women a year has recently been called into question. An article published in The Independent this week, reports on a recent review of the current system which suggests that the costs and benefits have not been balanced well enough stating: ‘the harms of over diagnosis followed by unnecessary treatment and suffering, have never been properly weighted against each other’.

Supporters of the breast screening programme, which currently provides mammograms to all women between the ages of 50-70 (due to change to those aged 47-73 by 2012), says that for every 2 women’s whose lives it saves, 1 will receive unnecessary treatment. For most, this numerical reasoning would surely suggest that the earlier the screening the better. However, many critics dispute this figure, instead suggesting that for everyone 1 woman saved, up to 10 other women undergo unnecessary treatment - some even including a mastectomy.
The dispute was widely publicised during March of this year when the British Medical Journal published a paper which showed that breast cancer related deaths had fallen faster in areas where there was no breast screening than in those where screening was readily available. Professor McPherson, public health epidemiologist of Oxford University, says that by looking at US figures breast screening reduces death rates by 14% in the under 60s and by 32% in the under 70s; figures which he says are of "marginal statistical significance".

Professor McPherson, citing US evidence, says that breast screening reduces the death rate by 14 per cent in the under-60s, which is of "marginal statistical significance", and by 32 per cent in the under-70s. But even this is a small benefit because at age 60 the risk of death from breast cancer over the next 15 years is just 1.2 per cent – 259 women in the UK would have to be screened to avoid one death. McPherson has thus concluded that "Individual benefit from mammography is very small, but not widely understood”, and demands more transparency from the NHS about such scientific uncertainties. Sarah Sellars, director of the NHS Breast Screening Programme responded saying: "The vast majority of evidence from properly conducted research clearly shows that regular mammography reduces deaths from breast cancer. The World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that there is a 35 per cent reduction in mortality from breast cancer among regularly screened women aged 50-69 years old.

To read the full article and look further at the risks and benefits of breast screening please click here.

Lauren Newton 4th August 2010
l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk