‘They threatened my life – I don’t need them’
A Kiwi mum tells Te Ahua Maitland why she’s happy to bare all for charity.
ONE young woman a day is diagnosed with breast cancer in New Zealand – and that littleknown rate has prompted an inyour-face new awareness campaign.
The cancer is often seen as an issue only for middle-aged women – but now the Breast Cancer Foundation is raising the alarm among women in their 20s and 30s.
The foundation says young women need to be checking their breasts, and also watching for visual signs such as dimpling, puckering, rashes, inverted nipples and lumps.
A new advertising campaign, launching today to mark the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, shows three Kiwi women posing topless to recreate classic paintings by Rubens and Rembrandt. The breasts of the women in those paintings, according to an art history expert, show some of the visual signs of cancer.
Kelly McDiarmid was 37 when she found a lump on her right breast. When she went to get checked, various health professionals said she was too young, until a mammogram, ultrasound then biopsy confirmed she had breast cancer.
It was a shock for McDiarmid, who was a fit and healthy runner. ‘‘I have always been a checker. So my advice is, if you feel something in your breast and don’t know what it is – get it checked,’’ she said.
After a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, the Hamilton woman chose not to have breast reconstruction surgery.
‘‘I wanted them off right from the beginning. They threatened my life – I don’t need them, I don’t want them,’’ McDiarmid said. ‘‘They had fed my three children. They did not define me.’’
Most women diagnosed with cancer are over 45, and the Government funds free mammograms for them, every two years.
But 6 per cent of women under 30 are also affected, according to the foundation. That is why chief executive Evangelia Henderson is calling on young women to be ‘‘breast aware’’ from age 20 – to know how their breasts normally look and feel, and to see a doctor if there are changes.
The foundation also says women aged between 40 and 45 should get mammograms, even if they have to pay themselves.
McDiarmid finished her cancer treatment in April this year. Now, she is focused on keeping fit and healthy for her and her family – and posing for the ad campaign was a chance to get the message out.