BreastFest Manchester
On 21st March 2019 we launched an exciting and innovative awareness campaign throughout Greater Manchester.
We want to educate women about breast cancer risks whilst helping protect our daughters, grand-daughters and every generation to come thereafter from breast cancer.
Why We Do It
You may not know this, but the ancient name for Manchester Mamucium is derived from the Roman word meaning “breast-shaped hill.”
In 2019, the city on the breast shaped hill was the venue for our first ever ‘BreastFest’.
We want to educate women about breast cancer risks whilst protecting our daughters, grand-daughters and every generation to come thereafter from breast cancer.
Current studies in Greater Manchester now include a world first. For the first time anywhere, women are being given a risk assessment at the same time as breast screening. The result of this study could mean that breast screening in this country could be revolutionised, thanks to the work being done by the Prevent Breast Cancer Team here in in the Nightingale Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital. However, the fight becomes more challenging as more women continue to be diagnosed year after year.
We aim to make Manchester the city where awareness about breast cancer in women is the highest in the country if not the world, so during October 2019 we launched an exciting and innovative awareness campaign throughout Greater Manchester.
Manchester is a city that has shaped the world in many ways over history. A city key to the industrial revolution and a city that inspired other revolutions such as Peterloo and the suffragettes and in 2019 we launched our very own movement.
Here in Manchester we are renowned throughout the global scientific community as leading the world with our research into breast cancer prevention.
Our Voice in the City
Manchester is also a city renowned for its powerful women. We recently celebrated the 100 year anniversary of when women won the right to vote, the right to have a voice.
Fierce, emotional and at times shocking, this powerful afternoon event acted as a platform to tell their stories and help engage, educate and inspire other women in the fight to make breast cancer an illness of the past.
In recognition, our awareness campaign will be rounded off by a spectacular celebration of life and unity in the fight against breast cancer featuring 100 women from Greater Manchester who have all been affected in some way by the illness.
The BooBee Bus
One of the highlights of the Prevent Breast Cancer campaign was our pink BooBee bus.
This enabled the BooBee campaign to travel around Greater Manchester during October which is breast cancer awareness month. The bus visited public areas where there is a high female footfall as well as large companies and organisations to engage and educate women about breast health.
Huge thanks to the team at Alexander Dennis who donated this fabulous E400 bus to us for the whole of October 2019 and beyond.
This state of the art, eco-friendly bus was perfect to promote our campaign with it's light, airy and welcoming interior. The fantastic wrap was been designed by their wonderful graphic designer Simon Bishop
Thank you also to Stagecoach who provided the drivers and resources to enable us to reach out to thousands of women.
How to get involved
Have you been affected by breast cancer?
Become a BooBee…
One of the aims of Breastfest Manchester is to change the mindsets of women and give them a toolkit to better breast health.
Becoming one of our BooBees means becoming part of our wonderful Pink Hive working with us to reach out to the greater community telling your stories in a bid to raise awareness. In essence, they will engage, help educate and inspire women to help us aid early detection and ultimately join the fight to make breast cancer an illness of the past.
You will be supported by the BooBee team and the Prevent Breast Cancer charity and meet other women going through similar journeys and create strong special bonds as they work together towards our goals.
Remarkably only 4% of the money raised for Breast Cancer Research goes in to preventing it happening in the first place. That’s why we need your help to raise money that will support the work of our scientists in Manchester.
As well as meeting new people and forming new support networks for each other, many of you will also gain new skills and improve your confidence and self-esteem as well as showcasing Manchester as a city leading the fight against breast cancer awareness and prevention.
Most importantly, together we will help encourage the women of Greater Manchester to be more breast aware which will ultimately save lives.
The charity behind BooBee & BreastFest
Breast cancer is a devastating disease that affects too many people – the patients, their families, friends and colleagues. It is a disease that can often be cured if caught early and suitable treatments are prescribed. But what if there was no need for the cure? If there was no diagnosis, no before or after breast cancer? What if people could live their lives safe in the knowledge that it would never happen to them?
Every year, in the UK, 55,000 individuals are diagnosed – 150 people a day. And every year, we lose 11,400 to this disease. That is 11,400 too many. In fact, it’s 55,000 too many. If we could prevent breast cancer tomorrow, by 2028, over 550,000 people would never hear the devastating news that they have breast cancer.
Our Proposition
Predict. Prevent. Protect.
You could call it our mantra. As the only UK charity entirely dedicated to the prediction and prevention of breast cancer, we’re committed to freeing the world from the disease altogether. Unlike many cancer charities, we’re focused on preventing, rather than curing. By promoting early diagnosis, screening and lifestyle changes, we believe we can stop the problem before it starts. And, being situated at the only breast cancer prevention centre in the UK, we’re right at the front-line in the fight against the disease.
Our Purpose
Our purpose is simple: to create a future free from breast cancer, where there is no before or after diagnosis.
And thanks to better predictive tools and early intervention, we truly believe that for future generations, breast cancer will be a thing of the past. This means acting now, to help more people live a life that’s free from the disease. It means funding research aimed solely at preventing breast cancer. And it means creating a world where thousands of people are spared from ever experiencing the pain and suffering it causes. Put simply, our purpose is in our name.
Awareness
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK.
At Prevent Breast Cancer, we’re passionate about stopping the disease before it starts. We promote healthier lifestyles and early diagnosis. We also collaborate with others to influence change in breast cancer services.
Research
Prevent Breast Cancer is the only UK charity committed solely to predicting and preventing the disease.
With the only dedicated prevention centre in the country, we work with patients, researchers and leading scientists to discover how to prevent the UK's most common cancer.
Fundraising
Help us create a future free from breast cancer.
With just 3% of cancer research funds being spent on preventing the disease, your time, support and donations make a huge difference to people’s lives, now and years into the future.
Why do we exist?
Quite simply, we exist to help create a future free from breast cancer.
Help us Beat this
Donate today and make a real difference.