Health Matters: Light up the night to save lives

By Lindsey Turnbull

The 11th annual Light Up the Night fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Foundation is taking place on the 24th April, and the public is encouraged to don the familiar pink t-shirt, grab a balloon to light the way and take the walk starting at Public Beach to The Ritz-Carlton and back again. Walkers will start to gather at 6pm on the night and begin the walk at 7pm.

Janette Fitzgerald, Chief Administrator with the Breast Cancer Foundation, said they were excited to have the walk start at Public Beach this year, as it gave them much-needed space to have their own catering, bouncy castle, face painting, and a DJ. She anticipated a real fun family event and all kindly supplied by Island Taste/Davenport and RE/MAX Cayman Islands, attracting hopefully around 1,000 participants. She also confirmed that Governor Martyn Roper had agreed to lead the walkers to the Ritz-Carlton and back again this year.

Janette outlined the theme of this year’s event.

“The theme is Awareness and Early Detection – early detection is the key to survival of breast cancer, with 99% to 100% survivability if it is caught early, so it is vital that women (and men) know what to look for and to do something about it when they see it,” she advised.

Registration forms can be found on their website: https://breastcancerfoundation.ky and entry is just CI$25 which includes a shirt and raffle ticket. Shirts can be collected at the Breast Cancer Center in Grand Harbour. The message on the shirts underscores this year’s them - Early Detection Saves Lives.

This year all funds raised will go to the Breast Cancer Foundation’s Awareness Programme and their specialised bra/prosthetic service.

“We run our Awareness Programme year-round and go to any company, school, college, group or community who requests our presence,” Janette confirmed. “It would appear that all cancers, especially breast cancer, are on the rise. Patients are all ages, and for us, at the BCF, ages of persons coming to us have varied from 20 years old to women in their 70s. Some people might think of it as an older woman (or man’s) disease, but what they need to realise is that you can be diagnosed at any age, and in our awareness programme we can discuss how to make yourself less vulnerable.”