‘Breast cancer is an older women’s disease, right?’ With 80% of breast cancer cases occurring in women over 50, it’s understandable why you may assume this as a young, healthy female student. But developing the life-threatening disease at a young age is not impossible. 3 in 1000 women diagnosed are under 30; even if it’s a small chance, surely it’s reason enough to start checking your boobs now?
CoppaFeel! certainly holds this belief. Established in 2009 by Kristin Hallenga, who now lives with secondary breast cancer and was misdiagnosed twice at age 23, the charity is on a mission to ensure that all breast cancers are diagnosed at the earliest stage possible.
Its growing number of Uni Boob Teams shows its chief target of promoting awareness in young women. You may have seen the University of Nottingham team on campus, which is one of 54 at universities nationwide that are currently promoting breast cancer awareness amongst students. In fact, they were probably pretty difficult to miss considering they spent Freshers’ Week at their stall dressed as enormous boobs.
“We aim to make students aware so that they know the symptoms and that it can happen,” said Kerri Atherton, 3rd year Politics student and the Nottingham group’s team leader. “Checking doesn’t take a lot of effort if you know what you’re looking for.”
CoppaFeel! statistics reveal that only 10% of young people know the symptoms of breast cancer. Kerri told Her Campus that awareness amongst the students she spoke to at Freshers’ Fair was also worryingly low. “A lot of them were either embarrassed by the topic,” she said, “or they just don’t know the symptoms at all.”
Teaching students by giving out cards detailing how to pick up the warning signs has therefore been a big priority of the campaign. It isn’t just about helping young women detect breast cancer now, but also in the future – the sooner you start checking, the more comfortable you will probably feel with knowing what’s normal and what’s not. Young women could then hopefully take the habit into later life that could one day save their lives.
CoppaFeel!’s free SMS service has also been very popular, with 113 Nottingham students signing up at Freshers’ Fair for regular reminders to check themselves. Teaming up with Boohoo to promote the scheme, our Uni Boob Team has been offering 20% discount cards to students who have signed up. “It’s hard to reach people and to get students to engage,” Kerri said. “An incentive helps – we’ve given out chocolates in the past.”
Yet this isn’t the only way that they want to encourage students get to know their tits. A repeat of last year’s flashmob in the Portland Building is on the cards, as well as a military themed club night following the CoppaFeel!’s incentive to encourage women to use their ‘little soldiers’ (i.e fingers) to check their breasts. Look out also for the upcoming Boob Ball Competition where the balls in a number of competitive games, including dodgeball, will be shaped like boobs – nipples and all.
It’s fair to say you will probably see a lot more boobs around campus in the next year, and it’s all for a great cause. Why not sign up for CoppaFeel!’s SMS service by texting “NHAM” to 70500 and start using your ‘little soldiers’ now? It’s never too early.
Follow your Uni Boob Team on Twitter: @UBTNottingham
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