Edgware mother raises breast cancer awareness (From Times Series)

Edgware mother raises breast cancer awareness

7:00am Monday 6th July 2009 in

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AN EDGWARE mother who has been hit with breast cancer twice will campaign across deprived areas of the borough this week to encourage women to examine themselves.

Marina Raime, 44, who lives off Deansbrook Road, has had a double mastectomy and eight years of treatment for the deadly illness.

After her second diagnosis, shortly after she gave birth, she set up an organisation, Betterdays Cancer Care, to create awareness of the disease among other black and ethnic minority women.

She will be at Grahame Park Estate today before attending other events around the borough as part of Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week.

She said: “Breast cancer affects younger women in the ethnic minority communities. I'm going to the deprived areas because they're the women who are harder to reach.”

A survey conducted by Breast Cancer Care suggests that 43 per cent of women in the black and ethnic minority community never look at or feel their breasts for lumps.

At the same time higher rates and more aggressive forms of breast cancer are prevalent among younger black Caribbean and African women.

Ms Raime said: “Both times I found the lumps myself, but even then I was misdiagnosed. That's often what happens with younger women.

“For younger women, like myself when I was diagnosed, the breast tissue is dense so mammograms are less accurate. Self-testing has to be done.”

She said she has now given up trying to fight her cancer with medication, after slipping into a coma for two weeks, but says it drives her on to raise awareness.

“Somebody said to me I was similar to Jane Tomlinson [the breast cancer sufferer who raised funds throughout her illness]. She ran, and I've established my organisation.”

For more information visit betterdays.uk.com