Women Should Show Breasts ‘TLC’

Loughborough MP Andy Reed is joining MPs from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer and Breakthrough Breast Cancer to encourage women in Loughborough to show their breasts some TLC!

The TLC campaign encourages women to: Touch their breast to feel for anything unusual. Look for changes, being aware of shape and textures. Check anything unusual with a doctor.

A Breakthrough Breast Cancer survey showed that 80% of women have not checked their breasts in the last month for signs and symptoms of breast cancer. The survey also showed that 47% of women don’t check their breasts because they don’t know how, although 57% are more aware of breast cancer since Kylie Minogue’s high profile diagnosis.

Reed said:

“I am working closely with Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the All Party Group on Breast Cancer to help raise awareness of the disease in Loughborough.

“This new survey by Breakthrough Breast Cancer shows that although 95% of women know that a breast lump could be a symptom of breast cancer, 93% don’t realize that there can be other symptoms such as a change in breast size or shape, a rash of the nipple or surrounding area, pain that is unrelated to periods or puckering of the skin.

“We need to raise awareness of breast cancer because it remains a killer locally. Most of us know of someone close to us who has suffered from this disease – 41,000 women a year in the UK are diagnosed with the disease – and early detection offers the best chance of successful treatment. It is a sad fact but women do need to carry out regular checks and, for the most part, this isn’t happening.

“I am backing the TLC campaign because if it leads to just one woman in Loughborough potentially detecting abnormalities and getting her concerns checked out by a doctor, and breast cancer treated that would be a step forward. We need to break down taboos on this issue and ensure people are comfortable with regularly examining themselves.”