Amy Wu

Cancer treatments and support groups are helping, but more cancer prevention is something we really need

The death rate for cancer patients can be brought lower through education and awareness, which will be easier to achieve when we are freer to discuss and educate others about the disease

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Better to have cancer prevention methods than cancer survival stories, or to wonder what more could have been done. Photo: Shutterstock

Amy Wu

Published: 2:30pm, 15 Jun 2019Updated: 2:30pm, 15 Jun 2019

This past May was my sixth “cancerversary” and, compared to the previous year, it was fairly low-key. I marked it with a silent prayer for friends lost over the years to this disease. Many were similar to me when diagnosed – in their 30s and juggling work, family and friends. We felt immortal, our personal and professional lifestyles on the fast track.

This anniversary paled in comparison to the fifth, a milestone requiring a gathering of friends over cake and margaritas. All cancer patients and survivors know about the infamous five-year mark, a statistically driven milestone drawing the line between survivor and patient.

But the focus on the five-year milestone is limiting, especially with advancements in science, innovation and technology – specifically social media and video – allowing us to readily share information.

With the sixth anniversary, I had a light-bulb moment. Why not extend the fight to breast cancer prevention research? Meaning identifying and spotlighting areas in the environment and lifestyle that could play a factor. Why not create initiatives, programmes and innovations to bring awareness and introduce advocacy to women of all ages and ethnicities? Why not start education and awareness as early as secondary school?

Cancer is rarely a part of most peoples’ thinking or concerns in their 20s and 30s, much less teens. But while the disease remains rare in women under 40, one in seven women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and it could strike anytime. Fewer than 5 per cent of breast cancers diagnosed in the US happen in women under 40, but some 40,610 people – including 500 men – die of breast cancer annually, according to the American Cancer Society.

I was 37 and working in Hong Kong when I found a large lump in my left breast. I had no family history and lived a fairly healthy lifestyle. One doctor said the root of the disease was stress, another theorised that it was too much ice cream. In other words, no definitive answer.