As you may know if you follow this blog, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. All over the UK events are taking place raising awareness about breast cancer. This is something I’m incredibly passionate about. My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago and successfully fought, largely down to early detection. Since my grandmother also had breast cancer, I take it very seriously.

So, when a colleague, who is a breast cancer survivor herself, said that a boobie bus was arriving in our local leisure centre directly opposite from where I work, I knew I had to go and show my support.

The BooBee Bus

The bus is part of the wider prevent breast cancer awareness campaign. This particular campaign is called BooBee, bee aware, bee protected, adopting the bee logo that is the symbol of Manchester.  The reason behind this is that Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester has one of the first Prevent Breast Cancer research Units in the country.

You can follow the bus’s route as it travels across Manchester. The route is as follows:

9th October – The University of Manchester

11th October – Sainsburys Cheadle

13th October – Manchester Airport

18th October – Gadbrook Park, Northwich

21-25th October – Piccadilly Train Station

28th October – IKEA in Ashton-U-Lyne

29th October – Egencia, Piccadilly Gardens

31st October – GMP Stockport

These are just some of the key areas, but you can find more locations on the Prevent Breast Cancer Awareness website if you want to come out and show your support and find the Boobee bus in your local area.

Information and goodies from the Prevent Breast Cancer Campaign

On the bus itself there was information about the screening programme. This includes what we mean by breast screening, about the NHS breast screening programme and what happens when you attend a screening.

In addition, there was a rather cool little handy pocket guide to looking after your boobees, It shows you the kinds of things to look out for such as a visible lump on the armpit, dimpled or depressed skin, changes to the nipple, bloody discharges as well as lumps in the breast, to name but a few. I’d definitely recommend taking a look because there were signs even I didn’t know about.

The simple fact is, the earliest breast cancer is found, the better the chances are of you beating it, as with most cancers. So looking for any changes is vital as is getting it checked by your GP.

Ways to get involved in the BooBee campaign

If you’d like to find out more then you can do so here: Prevent Breast Cancer

info@preventbreastcancer.org.uk

Twitter: @wepreventBC

Facebook: WeArePreventBreastCancer

Instagram: preventbreastcancer