The first Karen Toole Moonlight Swim took place in December 2012 at Dursley Pool in Stroud (a year to the day that Karen passed over). I opened the event with a poem that I had written about Karen (please see below), then thirty two people plunged into twenty five metre pool, dyed pink for the occasion , to swim the equivalent of the channel (21 miles or 1344 lengths to be precise). We managed it in just over an hour, which is fantastic, as many of us are not seasoned swimmers by any stretch of the imagination ! We are certain that Karen would have had a good laugh at the very least ! We managed to surpass our target amount to raise (which was the total number of lengths £1344) by raising a grand total of £1700.60 !

Dursley Pool’s annual charity Zumbathon took place at the same time as our swim event and the team there have very kindly donated their fundraising efforts to the pot for our final grand total. All proceeds gained will be given to the Pink Ribbon Foundation in support of the great community based support that the foundation offers towards the fight against breast cancer.

Ode To Karen

Complete Inspiration,
Full of Motivation,
Multi-dimension person.

Always approachable,
Highly affable,
Totally palpable person.

Infinite empathy,
Eloquent literary,
Global community person.

Incredible tolerance,
Impressive experience,
Courage abundant person.

Your light shines on,
In all you have driven,
Celebrated not forgotten person.

Peace, love, laughter and light to you now and always x

I wanted to share with you how I have used some things to help me to cope with what is happening to me. I notice that I keep flipping  from past to present tense, some of it has ‘happened’ some of it will happen I guess and sometimes I stand away from what’s happening and think of it as happening to someone else. All have different effects on me and how I am feeling all approaches serve me to some extent at the time.

It might be helpful to describe where I am in my ‘journey’ god I hate that word; journey conjures up positive trips in a plane or in a car. Following the usual tests, following me finding a lump in my left breast I underwent surgery to remove a small lump and a sample of lymph nodes to be tested. Just over a week ago the biopsy came back positive I must have more surgery and all of my lymph nodes removed, chemotherapy and then radiotherapy.

Facebook

Do you use Facebook? I had been but really just to keep in touch with friends that were from my past and scattered across the world. I had the idea to set up a sort of ‘private blog’, a way of informing a specific group of people about what was going on for me. It’s very simple to do, you set up a group and invite only those that you want to view what you are posting, and they of course can post too.

I named my group ‘My Left Tit’, I was reminded of a film I had enjoyed, My Left Foot starring Daniel Day-Lewis who played a man paralyzed from birth, who is written off as retarded and helpless. Using his left foot, the only part of his body not afflicted, he learns to write. He grows up to become a well-known author, painter, and fundraiser. I saw some sort of parallel with this ‘burden’ I had been given that I could use to some advantage somehow and so the Facebook group was borne.

Practically, simply on the surface it is a medium for letting people know what is happening to me. It stops separate calls, texts and emails from concerned friends that I might feel obliged to answer in a superficial next steps “I’m fine, no need to worry about me” sort of way.

On a deeper level it has resulted in some interesting things and my reason for offering it as a suggestion to others really. I post about how I feel both physically and emotionally. I don’t write every day but I write often, sometimes it’s at the end of a  busy exhilarating day, sometimes it’s to tell people that I have had bad news, sometimes it’s at 3am when I am overwhelmed by fear and sure that I will never recover and will ‘disappear’ from people’s lives. I write in the moment, spontaneously trusting that those I have chosen to be part of the group can deal with the real me, the honest me, albeit it writing not sobbing at the end of the phone.

What happens of course is a ‘real’ response to me and what I need, these people know me well….I don’t get, “ how are you, it must be awful”, they know it’s awful or indeed that I’ve had a great day and they want to hear more about it. Sometimes people post for others to see and tiny bubbles of conversation between my friends start to happen in front of me, supportive of me and of each other supporting me.  It’s the conversations that have started between people, encouraging one another, agreeing, or in Facebook speak ‘liking’ what the other has said that I find fascinating, it seems to have generated a small community.

Its interesting too to notice how people respond to my posts, some write straight into the group for all to see, others use the private messaging service, others text me, for example “it’s sunny outside, fancy a walk in the morning” others call me.

I have fantasized about bringing the group together physically in some way, perhaps at a party, then I wonder of it will break the ‘magic’ apart, from the practicalities of the distances involved, one member is in Australia. I did however test it, my sister came with her children and I invited another couple along, very informal, a quick cup of tea. They stayed for a few hours, the group seemed to gel immediately, it took none of the usual effort when you host such a thing, it was wonderful.

I work in organizational development in the NHS and when I describe some of what I do I say that I find ways to get people to have the sorts of conversations that they might ordinarily not have had. At present I feel on the periphery of my work, I can’t be there every day and so My Left Tit has turned into something a kin to my work, it’s comforting in some way.

As a slightly uncomfortable aside, my husband isn’t a Facebook user and so I am conscious that I am more open about how I am feeling to the group, rather than to him but I suspect that is a normal response when a couple struggle to speak with each other about their deepest fears, sometimes they don’t. I have suggested he joins and then I wonder if I will feel unable to post exactly how I feel.

I have set up a monthly event, it’s called ‘Third Thursday Tit Check’ a reminder goes out to the group to check their breasts, men too of course, I want to add more information for people to read about breast cancer in both women and men so that I raise awareness. Friends have said that they have got their mothers and wives checking as a result and the men have said they have started to check their testicles. So this month I am planning to change the name to include the testicles.

A colleague at work shared how she had checked, found a lump and was thankfully told it was nothing but they would keep an eye on her, she and others have said they feel uncomfortable posting or telling me that they are fine when I am going through this. I am simply thrilled that they are checking and that they are well.

I worry about what people will think about the group, if I am being terribly self-indulgent, I check that worry out with them from time to time, the response is that they look forward to and enjoy the posts and my updates and so for now I will carry on.

The group has around 44 members but I keep adding as people become interested and I decide who I add and who I don’t, I have been very selective. Interestingly one friend said that they were uncomfortable with it and that it was wrong that I was being so open. I took them off the group and we stay in touch through other ways. That persons asks others for the updates!

Another thing that I have done is to a adapt the book, ‘ Mummys Lump’ a book aimed at small children to help them to understand what is happening, you can download it in a PDF, it was produced by Breast Cancer Care.

My niece and nephew are 4 and 6, I rewrote the story, keeping the medical descriptions the same as the book and drew my own pictures, or caricatures really. I had lots of fun with it and it was enormously therapeutic investing the time in drawing myself going through the different stages. I tried to give time scales by punctuating the book with events, their birthdays and seasons.  The original is in an A4 folder that both my sister and I have read to the children several times. I think its helping us all to be truthful.

For more help or questions, please contact Jo Hall via email: johall1264@yahoo.co.uk

The number of women under 50 diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK has exceeded 10,000 for the first time

New statistics from Cancer Research UK has shown that 10,068 women under the age of 50 were diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK in 2010. This was the first time the figure had exceeded 10,000 and represents an 11 per cent increase since 1995, when the number of diagnosed in the same age group was 7,712.

This rise in younger patients developing breast cancer contributed to an overall increase in diagnosis rates among women of all ages.  The total number of women diagnosed each year is now approaching 50,000.

The reasons for the increasing rates of breast cancer in this group are not clear, but it’s thought that increasing alcohol intake and hormonal factors such as having fewer children, having them later in life and increased use of the contraceptive pill may be playing a role.

However, the statistics also show that fewer women under 50 than ever before are dying from the disease. In the early 1990s, the mortality rate from breast cancer in women under the age of 50 was nine per 100,000 women in the UK. By late 2000, this had fallen to 5 in every 100,000. More than eight in 10 women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 50 now survive their disease for at least five years. This is thought to be due to better treatment.

Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK’s director of health information, said: “Breast cancer is more common in older women but these figures show that younger women are also at risk of developing the disease. Women of all ages who notice anything different about their breasts, including changes in size, shape or feel, a lump or thickening, nipple discharge or rash, dimpling, puckering or redness of the skin, should see their GP straight away, even if they have attended breast cancer screening. It’s more likely not to be cancer but if it is, detecting it early gives the best chance of successful treatment.

“The number of cases in women under 50 diagnosed with breast cancer is increasing slowly, but thanks to research, awareness and improved care more women than ever before are surviving the disease”.

Tara Beaumont, Clinical Nurse Specialist at Breast Cancer Care said: “The increasing incidence of breast cancer in women under 50 reflects the growing incidence overall.

“Though it is not fully understood why the rates of breast cancer in this age group are rising, it is extremely encouraging to see a continuation of the downward trend in breast cancer mortality.”

Please see our Awareness section for the most recent information in our sections ‘good news’ and ‘latest news’.

Source: Cancerkin

Speaking about diagnosis, denial, reconstruction and body image post surgery, their accounts not only reveal how humour and optimism made a traumatic time more bearable, but also how women can reclaim and revalue both their bodies and their own personal strength in the face of physical change.

This film was made as part of the What’s Your Story? filmmaking training programme which took place across London in 2010. Led by the Documentary Filmmakers Group it’s aim was to teach documentary filmmaking across four diverse London communities.

www.whatsyourstory.uk.com

www.thedfg.org

Click on each image to see the full picture…

To honour Karen Toole who sadly lost her battle with breast cancer the first Karen Toole Moonlight Swim took place in December 2012 at Dursley Pool in Stroud at which thirty two people plunged into a twenty five metre pool, dyed pink for the occasion , to swim the equivalent of the channel (21 miles or 1344 lengths to be precise). In addition Dursley Pool’s annual charity Zumbathon took place at the same time and the team there have kindly donated their fundraising efforts to the Pink Ribbon Foundation altogether totalling £1700.60!

Friends and colleagues of Hastings Direct raised £1000 in memory of their colleague Melody Strath

For the fourth year the team at Zen Hair Design raised the superb sum of £1441.20 and it looks like they had a great time raising it.

Kelly Anza's Hair Design held Ultimate Girls' Night In on 23rd Octover 2012 and it was a huge success. Between Kelly's skydive and the party they raised £900 for The Pink Ribbon Foundation!

Kelly Anza's Hair Design held Ultimate Girls' Night In on 23rd Octover 2012 and it was a huge success. Between Kelly's skydive and the party they raised £900 for The Pink Ribbon Foundation!

Bickley Primary School held a Pink 'n' Blue day in support of both the Pink Ribbon Foundation and the Blue Ribbon Foundation. Children had a non uniform day and dressed for school in pink and blue, donating £1 to the cause. After school they held a cake sale and raffle. Some very clever parents baked and donated yummy cakes for sale. Bickley Primary managed to raise £550 in total! That's £225 to each Foundation - well done!

Newbury Building Society partnered with the Pink Ribbon Foundation offering an exclusive limited edition savings product until the 17 October 2012. The ‘Pink Ribbon Saver’ was a limited edition ‘Easy Access’ savings account that could only be opened in one of the 10 Newbury Building Society branches across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire. Newbury Building Society donated £5 for every Pink Ribbon Saver account opened to the Pink Ribbon Foundation. Branches also held special launch parties during October to promote the Pink Ribbon Saver account to raise money for the Pink Ribbon Foundation. For more information about Newbury Building Socierty visit www.newbury.co.uk

Wendy Kirk and her wonderful pink ladies raised over £1,100 for the foundation. Don’t they look great!

On 19th August Grant Scott and his brother (with the support of Dad) cycled from Land's End to Inverary raising £1592.00 for the foundation.

Darren Bennet and his Woo’s Warriors raised over £6,000 by walking the 3 Peaks Challenge this June in memory of his wife Helen.

Dave & Steph, the Landlords of the Queens Head pub in Sutton Vallance, Maidstone raised over £850. They asked all the guests at their wedding to donate to the foundation rather than give presents.

Nikki Barber raised over £1,000 by having her head shaved in support of two friends who were diagnosed two weeks apart with breast cancer and are losing their hair through their treatment.

Karen and her lovely ladies raised £575 with their pink Zumbathon 2012.

Rebecca Prescott and her 5 colleagues completed the bike ride raising £615 which will be match funded by Sky and so the total will be - £1230.

Julia Wilmott and friends raised £701.50 at a Pink Aerobics / Pink Zumba event in Hyde Park. In memory of Julia's mum, Sylvia Forster, who passed away in 2003 from breast cancer.

Thank you to the organisers Less Bounce who have raised over £10,000 for The Pink Ribbon Foundation through the organisation of National Pink Aerobics.

Andrew Martin ran Birmingham half marathon (his first) and raised £433.

Swimmers at North Birmingham Dolphins Swimming & Lifesaving Club raised £5,300 at “Breast Stroke for Breast Cancer” charity swim.

Megan Hudspeth raised £35 at her primary school Cefn Fforest by spending the day painting and polishing nails.

Zebra Pens Team have produced a pink ribbon pen and did fund-raising at their trade show raising £1389.87.

Katherine raised £663 by having her head shaved in support of a friend who has lost hers during her treatment for breast cancer.

Mel Lacey on behalf of the Foundation receives a wonderful cheque from Steve Hyde on behalf of Sutton Bridge Golf Club.

She did it, Gill Lavers raises over £1,000 for the Foundation.

Celia Gyer who rode over the Alps.

Josh Adler who did a bike ride from Hayling Island in Hampshire to Paris.

On the Catwalk

Sc Bon Accord Ladies 2010

Army Rowathon

Pink Ribbon Porsche

Pink Aga

Pink Party Time

Soul Purpose

A link can be found on our links page.