The Uniboober effect is multiplying

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The Uniboober's message is having a positive effect on women living in the Sunshine Coast. It started with my work colleagues, friends and school mums, and it's now spreading further afield!

Specifically, the effect has happened with Lou, this smiling breath of fresh air who is one of the gorgeous oncology nurses who look after me during my chemotherapy treatments at SCUPH (alongside the equally gorgeous Shelley and Hannah). Lou doesn’t know it but seeing her today has absolutely made my week and put a pep in my chemo fatigue-affected steps. Lou told me today she has booked a mammogram because of me and my Uniboober story. I feel truly chuffed that she has added Advocate of Mammograms to her list of other important roles, including Advocate of Cervical Screenings (aka pap smears) as well as being an admirable Frontline Soldier of Cancer Fuck-off-ery (that’s my official term for an oncology nurse, purely from the patient’s perspective).

Lovely Lou has entered the magical number of age bracket (hint: it has a 4 in front) which means that she, as well as every other Australian woman aged 40 and over, is eligible for free mammograms every 2 years. I congratulate Lou for taking this step and making mammogram screening part of her ongoing health checks.


Getting screened increases survival rates
BreastScreen Australia, which incorporates BreastScreen Queensland, carries out breast screening on around 2 million women annually (latest official statistics are 1.7 million screenings in 2015-16). The bloody awesome news is that the BreastScreen Australia program is working. Breast cancer mortality has decreased since BreastScreen Australia began in 1991 (Source: BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2018, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare).

Most of the publicity around breast screening focuses on women aged 50 and over…but if you’re aged 40 and over, rest assured you are still eligible to get screened for free. And after getting your mammogram you can still Instagram your boobs as well...if you're so inclined to show off your bits.

Don’t be fooled into thinking “It won’t happen to me”
My advice is don’t rely solely on the information you’ve heard in regards to waiting until you’ve felt or noticed lumps, bumps or changes. Some breast cancers aren’t able to be felt through self breast checks, such as my type of breast cancer Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) which begins by silently invading the milk ducts without your knowledge that it’s even there.

If you’re aged 40 or older, if you’ve never had a mammogram, and EVEN if you haven’t noticed lumps or anything unusual, you should speak with your GP or contact your local provider (BreastScreen Queensland) to make a breast screen appointment. Those silent sneaky cancers, like DCIS, could very well be infiltrating your breasts right now, at this very moment. The only way you can become aware of it is through having a mammogram. If you’re an introvert at heart, like me, you don’t even have to make a phone call – you can book online from the privacy and comfort of your phone or computer. Too easy!

More than 85% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no existing BC history
Having a mammogram isn’t scary, awkward or embarrassing (see, even Ryan Gosling wants you to get one!). What is a scary thought is the possibility that many women aged 40 and over are walking around with cancerous cells in their breasts going undetected because they don’t have regular mammograms. It’s a sad fact that 85% of women diagnosed with breast cancer had no previous family history (I do have BC family history on my father’s side of the family which is why my diagnosis wasn’t totally unexpected but it was still a shock nonetheless).

Still in that magical thirty-something age bracket?
Even though screening mammography is not recommended for women under the age of 40, young women can, and do, develop breast cancer. More rarely, men of any age can also develop breast cancer. Therefore, it is important for people of all ages to be aware of how their breasts normally look and feel and promptly report any new or unusual changes to their GP. If you’re aged under 40 and you think that your family history of breast cancer could put you at higher risk of diagnosis, talk to your GP about getting a referral (NB: screening fees and out-of-pocket expenses may apply).

So in a nutshell….BOOK A MAMMOGRAM! DO IT TODAY!

I’M NOT A FAN OF CAPITALS OR EXCLAMATION MARKS SO YOU CAN TELL THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME!




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