‘Life-saving’ conversations on health
Breaking taboo around gynaecological disease
Over 70 women attended a health forum in Stratford last week. The event, organised by Rural Women of New Zealand, Taranaki area, was focused on saving lives — by knowing the signs and symptoms of various health conditions.
Tash Crosby, founder of Talk Peach, a gynaecological awareness charity, was one of the guest speakers on the day, and said she was grateful to the organisers for inviting her to speak.
Tash, an ovarian cancer survivor, talked about her personal cancer journey as well as talking about the signs and symptoms of the five gynaecological cancers and statistics around them.
Tash says a few years ago she didn’t know much about any of the five gynaecological cancers.
“I was young, healthy and fit. I looked after my wellbeing, I attended cervical smears. Cancer was the last thing on my mind.”
In 2017 she was diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer after a tumour was removed and biopsied. Her treatment then included a hysterectomy and six months of chemotherapy which was harrowing, but, she says, her early diagnosis gave her the
chance to live to tell the tale.
Tash hasn’t just lived to tell the tale, but is using her tale to help others, launching Talk Peach in May 2019.
She says she, as a cancer survivor, founded the charity, with a purpose is to ensure there are more survivors. The charity works to inform New Zealanders about gynaecological disease, as well as connecting and supporting those who are diagnosed with it in some form.
“The statistics are grim,” she said. “Every year, 1000 women in New Zealand are diagnosed with one of the
five gynaecological cancers and approximately 400 women will die from one.”
Statistics show an average of one woman in New Zealand dying every 24 hours from one of those five cancers.
“That’s higher than our road toll or melanoma rates, yet is discussed far
less.”
She said breaking the taboo around the subject is one of the focuses of Talk Peach.
“We want to encourage women to have honest, open and frank conversations with loved ones, to empower people to take charge of their bodies and to break down fears
around acting upon health issues and seeking help.”
These conversations are potentially “life-saving”, she said.
At the start of her talk, Tash gave out a mini-quiz on the subject, to help the charity gather data on what the community already knows, and where more awareness is needed.
The 10 questions asked things like by what percentage can a cervical smear reduce a person’s chances of developing cervical cancer (answer 90 per cent). They were also asked if they could name all five gynaecological cancers (womb, ovarian, cervical, vulval and vaginal).
She said it is important people realise there are no screening tools for four of those five types of cancer.
“The majority of New Zealanders think their recommended threeyearly cervical smear keeps them safe. Your cervical smear is not a warrant of fitness for your gynae health, it tests only for changes to cells in the cervix; it does not screen for the other four gynaecological cancers.”