CANCER support groups are launching a campaign to increase awareness of breast cancer with an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest bra chain ever.
The Cancer Patients Support Group (CPSG) calls on all women (or men) to hand over as many unwanted bras as they can and help put Cyprus on the map as the land of the world’s longest bra chain.
The group hope the campaign will raise awareness of breast cancer and the need among women to get regular screenings. The high-profile case of Kylie Minogue who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer is one example of how early diagnosis is important.
Chairperson of the CPSG, Jan Handley, says the campaign is twofold, to raise breast cancer awareness by hooking together the longest collection of bras in the world and also to raise much-needed funds.
The group is asking people to donate at least £1 per person when handing over the bras to raise money for cancer charities. The money will go to various causes of the CPSG, the Anti-Cancer Society and the Cyprus Association of Cancer Patients and Friends. One such cause is the Home Care Nursing Service in Paphos, considered the largest in the area. Paphos does not have a Breast Cancer Centre, but these support services help to look after cancer patients in the district.
The Guinness Book of World Records has already been notified of the attempt, which should take place some time in April next year.
Organisers had initially thought they had to beat the bra chain record of 20 kilometres strewn on the shores of the Isle of Man, but Guinness officials informed the challengers that the actual record was a 60km bra chain, consisting of 79,001 bras, measured on Sentosa Island, Singapore, on December 21, 2002. The measurements are based on the length of bras hooked together in a single chain.
One of the organisers, Gina Ghillyer, says the idea is to collect 100,000 unwanted bras in Cyprus.
“We need the original hook and wire bras so we can chain them together. I’ve already got bras hanging from my shop ceiling in preparation. After we use them, we plan to wash them and ship them off to Africa,” said Gina.
People can deposit unwanted bras at any of the collection points in the ladies underwear shop Damart in any one of the four major cities or at Gina’s Place in Paphos.
“This is a nationwide appeal for bras. We want to raise awareness in the whole country and encourage screening for breast and cervical cancer. People are not ignorant of these things but they are negligent and the best way to deal with that is to constantly remind them,” said Gina.
“We’ve already got our friends having bra parties in the UK, Belgium and Holland. They get men and women to come to parties with bras on their chests and a pound pinned to their bras. We also have a three-bedroom house ready to store the thousands of bras until they are ready for the chain. We would welcome any volunteers or sponsors interested in helping,” she added.
Doctor Vasilios Tanos from the Department of Gynaecological Oncology at the Evangelistria Medical Centre said the bra chain was a great way of reminding women of the need for screening.
“Breast cancer is an important issue in Cyprus because we have 300 new cases every year. This frequency matches very much with the rest of Europe, like the UK, Germany and France, which are the rich developed countries. New technologies and developments in medicine help us to diagnose cases in younger ages now.”
Tanos said women had to be fully informed and aware of the risks of breast cancer, especially in cases of breast cancer in the family, where the risk was increased for first-degree relatives.
“They need to be informed and aware of the increased risks of developing breast or ovarian cancer. We ran a study of 1,000 women, around 10 per cent of whom had a familial risk of cancer. Very few were aware of this risk,” he said.
He highlighted the most dangerous age group for breast cancer was between 60 and 75.
“The risk factor is greater for women who never breast fed or had children and women who used Hormone Replacement Therapy for over 10 years. Other factors not proven include lack of exercise, obesity, alcohol and smoking.
“Based on this general knowledge, the strategy of each country is to identify women at high risk and do mammography screening, starting from the age of 50. An Italian study showed that one in four women over 50 years of age could be saved if they tested regularly (every two to three years).”
In Cyprus, breast screening was coupled with smear tests for cervical cancer. The oncologist noted, however, that there was a lack of awareness on the island. “We asked 500 low-risk women whether they took smear tests, a big majority took it frequently, but 30-40 per cent never do. We went to the suburbs of Nicosia within 20km and found that the majority don’t do it not because of ignorance but negligence.”
“The screening programme in Cyprus is free for low income families but the threshold is set so high that 90 per cent of the population is eligible. Distance and cost is not the issue. That’s why the bra idea is very clever to help people understand and push them to do screenings,” said Tanos.
