BRIGG CENTRE TO BE INVOLVED ON THINK PINK DAY

FROM NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE COUNCIL

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and North Lincolnshire Council is encouraging people to be breast aware to cut the number of deaths from breast cancer each year.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK. Every year nearly 55,000 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK, that’s the equivalent of one person every 10 minutes.
Although the majority of people are successfully treated, nearly 12,000 people die from it every year.

Be breast aware by checking your breasts regularly for changes and visit your GP if you have any of the following symptoms:

• A lump or area of thickened tissues in either breast
• A change in the size or shape of one or both breasts
• Discharge from either of your nipples (which may be streaked with blood)
• A lump or swelling in either of your armpits
• Dimpling of the skin of your breasts
• A rash on or around your nipple
• A change in the appearance of your nipple, such as becoming sunken into your breast.

The three main risk factors are:

• Gender - being a woman is the biggest risk factor for developing breast cancer.
• Getting older - the older the person, the higher the risk. More than 80 per cent of breast cancers occur in women over the age of 50. Most men who get breast cancer are over 60.
• Significant family history – this isn’t common, around five per cent of people diagnosed with breast cancer have inherited a faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.
• Eight out of 10 breast cancer cases each year are diagnosed in females aged 50 and over.

In North Lincolnshire:

• Each year on average 140 women are newly diagnosed with breast cancer.
• Thirty women each year die from breast cancer.
• Breast cancer survival is good with 96.4 per cent estimated to survive a year after diagnosis in North Lincolnshire (2013).
• Brigg*** and Broughton Community Wellbeing Hub is hosting ‘Think Pink Day’ on 21 October. Staff will be wearing pink clothes, cooking pink food, knitting pink items and painting pink plant pots and those visiting the Hub will be able to get involved.

Coun Carl Sherwood, from Brigg, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “By raising awareness of breast cancer and what people should look out for, more lives could be saved each year. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and we all need to work together to fight against it.
“We don’t really know what causes breast cancer but some factors increase the likelihood of you developing it, such as age and a family history of breast cancer.
“Most of us will have been affected by cancer in one way or another, so we are urging everyone to be breast aware. If you have any of the symptoms, please book an appointment with you GP.”

Did you know?

• One in eight women in the UK will develop breast cancer in their lifetime
• Breast cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in women in the UK
• Breast cancer also affects men with around 400 being diagnosed each year
• More than eight out of 10 (85 per cent) of people survive breast cancer beyond five years
• Seventy two per cent of eligible women attended breast cancer screening in 2014/15.
• An estimated 27 per cent of breast cancer cases in the UK are linked to lifestyle factors, including being overweight and obese (nine per cent), alcohol (six per cent) and physical inactivity (three per cent).

N.F. ADDS: Brigg's Well-Being Hub, pictured above, is off Horstead Avenue, on the Springbank housing estate.