I see lots of stories about ovarian/cervical/breast cancer women – sharing their stories to help raise awareness. But where are the womb cancer women? They are conspicuous by their absence. Why is it that womb cancer fighters/survivors don’t feel able to be open about their cancer diagnosis?
I posted this question on the FB page a couple of days ago and was quite surprised by some of the comments that came back.
https://www.facebook.com/WombCancerSupportUK/posts/666173750127404?comment_id=666778733400239&offset=0&total_comments=27¬if_t=feed_comment
I have always been very open about my cancer – I had never heard about womb cancer (or endometrial carcinoma!!) when I was diagnosed so when it came to raising awareness of it as part of WCSUK I decided to talk about it to whoever would listen. If I was able to raise the profile of womb cancer then I was prepared to write as many blogs and articles as was necessary to get the word out and let people know about womb cancer.
I understand that not every woman feels the same way – some just want to have the treatment and move on. However, when the numbers of women being diagnosed are increasing, especially amongst younger women then something has to be done.
There is no national awareness campaign; no dedicated womb cancer charity and very little research into womb cancer. Things cannot continue as they are – so it falls to us, as womb cancer fighters and survivors to pick up the baton and do it ourselves.
We are up against it though, make no mistake about that. We are a very little fish in a huge pond but we can make some waves. WCSUK is already being seen and heard about – we are part of bigger organisations like Cancer52, the alliance of over 72 lesser known cancers and we are also part of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Cancer Group.
I’ve been working hard to make links with other organisations and have sent out over 500 of the cards with our details on in the past 3 months, that have been distributed around the country.
However, by far the best way to raise awareness is for women to come forward and share their story. It doesn’t have to be with WCSUK – contact your local paper or one of the women’s magazines who are always looking for stories to publish. You could even make a short video and post it on youtube!!
Another great way of raising awareness is to hold an event. September is Womb Cancer Awareness month so please consider doing something then. Hold a tea party or a coffee morning; give a talk at your local women’s rural or WI meeting; do Race for Life dressed in peach!!
There is a guy in US who wears a pink tutu and has his photograph taken in honour of his wife who had breast cancer – anyone got a husband who would do the same in a peach tutu?????
I'd welcome your thoughts on this subject - feel free to comment here or on the FB page.
xx Kaz xx