BCNA Mildura forum
Last Tuesday, I was fortunate to attend my first BCNA forum, held in Mildura about ‘Living well beyond breast cancer’. It was an impressive turnout with more than 100 women (and men!) attending. As I have recently joined BCNA as a Senior Policy Officer, the forum was my first opportunity to meet and talk to lots of amazing, strong women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. For me, meeting these women was the highlight of the day, as I was able to hear first hand about their experiences with breast cancer. Hearing women speak about their breast cancer experiences is invaluable in our work in the Policy team, as it is one way in which we get to hear about some of the ‘issues’ or obstacles that women encounter during their breast cancer journey. Hearing these stories enables us to work out ways to improve outcomes for women.
I also really enjoyed meeting those men and women who attended the forum simply to support their friends or family members with breast cancer. Seeing these men and women together with their friends and family members highlighted to me how much benefit women with breast cancer really gain from having someone to support them in their breast cancer experience.
Another highlight of the day for me was hearing guest speaker, author and breast cancer survivor Dr Stephanie Dowrik, speak about ‘Life after breast cancer’. Stephanie gave a very powerful talk about how important it is for women to take ‘time out’ for themselves, and to try and put themselves first. Stephanie mentioned that this is often easier said than done, and from the many laughs in the audience it was evident that many women really do find putting themselves first quite difficult!
Overall I really enjoyed the forum and left feeling very inspired by the strength of the amazing women who attended.
Astrid