BY: VANESSA ROBERTS
As we should all hopefully know, when it comes to our health, prevention is always better than cure. This is especially true of breast and ovarian cancers, where it is estimated that approximately 5% of the Australian female population are at moderate to high risk of developing the disease.
Did you know that the average woman’s risk of developing breast cancer is 12.5% and ovarian cancer is 1.2% up to the age of 85?
Worryingly, according to Krystal Barter who founded women’s health charity ‘Pink Hope‘, many women are completely unaware of their personal risk of developing either disease.
“These women are potentially sitting on a ticking time bomb. We have created a ground-breaking Know your risk tool, a series of questions that takes five minutes to complete, that will help at-risk women to get to grips with their family health histories and take action.”
Krystal, who underwent a preventative double mastectomy at 24 years old, founded the charity to help women determine if they are in the high-risk category for breast or ovarian cancer.
The online Know your Risk tool takes just five minutes to complete, and it gives women the chance to work out if their family health history puts them at an increased risk of developing either disease.
The ‘Know your Risk’ tool is found at pinkhope.org.au
To coincide with the release of their ‘Know Your Risk’ tool, Pink Hope has appointed me as one of several ambassadors to help spread their important preventative health message. I was only too happy to get behind this initiative, and encourage each and every person to hop online and take this test which could save your life.
Krystal says, “If you have a moderate to high risk you can go to your GP armed with this information and discuss the next steps to take any appropriate tests. And, while we don’t want to alarm women or create anxiety, we do believe that this simple self-assessment tool can give women essential health information that can save lives.”
1 Comment
It was really awesome.