‘Don’t put it off’, says breast cancer survivor
Kawerau mum urges screening as participation rates in Bay lag
Keitha Wineti-guptill feels “very lucky” her breast cancer was caught early. With no signs or symptoms, the Kawerau mother was diagnosed in June 2020 during a routine mammogram.
“From the healthy person that I was, I didn’t think that I was walking around with breast cancer,” the 49-year-old said.
Wineti-guptill is sharing her story as figures show Bay of Plenty and Lakes district women have lower participation rates in the national breast screening programme, than many other regions or districts.
Breastscreen Aotearoa provides free mammograms to women aged 45-69 every two years, with the aim of detecting breast cancer early, at a stage where it is easier to treat and more survivable.
For the two-year period as at October 2022, 62.9 per cent of those eligible in the Bay of Plenty got screened. The Lakes district percentage was 65.2. Auckland district had the lowest at 51 per cent and South Canterbury had the highest at 75.7 per cent.
It comes as the Breast Cancer Foundation is fundraising for a new pink campervan, which allows its team of specialist breast nurses to reach more women in the country’s most isolated and rural communities.
Wineti-guptill, who got information from the campervan, is encouraging others to do the same and “get educated”.
“Don’t just put it off . . . I was very much that person too [thinking] I don’t have time for that. If it wasn’t for wha¯nau . . . I definitely would have had a different outcome.”
Following her diagnosis, in September 2020, Wineti-guptill had a mastectomy and breast reconstruction.
As the cancer was caught early, she did not have to undergo “aggressive” treatment options such as chemotherapy or radiation, she said.
Instead, she was able to go on treatment medication for five years after her surgery.
Wineti-guptill is married and has two children, aged 11 and 25.
“Without that awhi, that love and support from them [her wha¯nau], it’s a really tough one. So I’ve got them to thank for it too.”
Wineti-guptill works at a school in Kawerau as an educational support person for tamariki, and says life was “absolutely” back to normal now. But she wants to encourage women to prioritise their mammograms and says she is “very lucky” the breast cancer screening programme exists.
The Breast Cancer Foundation’s campervan helped with this, as it educated women on early detection, she said.
She used the campervan twice when it visited Kawerau and said it was a “great help”.
Before she was diagnosed, she went with a friend and said her awareness about breast cancer at the time was “very minimal”. “That’s when I was able to get the information about self-checking.
“It’s amazing having that caravan because not a lot of people in our rural area have access. They’re not able to get to places because of transport and what have you.”
She encouraged women who were younger than the free screening age to seek information from the campervan about selfchecking.
“Get check-ups, don’t put it off, don’t delay, because they’ve got so much they can do to help us save us if we get in there early enough.”
A Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand media statement said it was endeavouring to reach more women in regional New Zealand with its education programme to encourage women to attend regular breast screening.
It was fundraising for a new pink campervan, which would allow its team of nurses to reach more women in the country’s most isolated and rural communities.
Its old pink caravan had travelled around the motu since 2014 with nurses educating women about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, family risk, and mammograms and self-checking.
But after thousands of kilometres, the caravan had become increasingly unfit for purpose. The charity was building a new custommade campervan that nurses will be able to drive themselves, giving them better access to hard-toreach communities.
Foundation chief executive Ahleen Rayner asked New Zealanders to help raise the funds to build a new pink campervan, “so we can take these messages to every corner of the country, no matter how remote or isolated, where women need us the most”.
“And the impact of your donations will be doubled, as a generous donor has already committed to matching every dollar raised up to $300,000.”
Rayner said getting more women into screening and educating them about early detection was “key” to its vision of reaching zero deaths from breast cancer.
Breastscreen Aotearoa was approached for comment.
"From the healthy person that I was, I didn’t think that I was walking around with breast cancer." Keitha Wineti-guptill