BCAC Events
Skip for Life Herceptin Event, Auckland 25 June 2008
Tim Tam Pink Tea Parties! NZ really came to the party - see photos and stories here. October-November 2007
Sweet Louise celebrates 1st birthday and launches new book 'The Pink Party' Sunday November 11, 2007
Breast Cancer Network (NZ)'s Conference an 'historic event' for New Zealand women, Oct. 2007
BCAC Congratulates NZ’s First Breast Cancer Research Professor 8 November 2007
Meet the Boobops, BCAC's 21st member 1 August, 2007
Skip for Life Herceptin Fundraiser update 31 May, 2007
Breast Cancer Research Trust Achievement Party 15 May, 2007
Breast Cancer Support holds training programme 5/6 May, 2007
Breast Cancer Network (NZ) presents petition to Parliament 9 November, 2006
Reconstructables present 'Black Pearls Calendar' to MPs 9 November, 2006
Breast Cancer Support Incorporates

Supporter Events
Herceptin Riders 'Ride for Susan', Christchurch May 20 2008
Wellington students raise breast cancer awareness with their
'Month of Exercise' fund raising project August 2007
Herceptin Hero Anne Hayden Launches 'Laugh Your Tits Off!'
Launch of Black Pearls Calendar 4 December, 2006

Meet the Boobops
BCAC welcomes 21st member the Boobops Dragon Boat Team - Secretary Pam Dazeley provides this report:
The Tauranga Boobops Dragon Boat Team started in 2003 and now in our 4th year we look back and realise how far we have come.  We began with a combined team of survivors and supporters and our first Regatta saw us achieve a memorable last placing! Since then we have gone from strength to strength and in Auckland last March, we won both Breast Cancer races and brought home the Trophy. In February Boobops hosted a most successful Super 12 Regatta which was a wonderful introduction to Dragon Boating in our area.  Plans are well under way for another regatta next February.   

The club is about to expand and this coming season will see two more teams participating. We are also hoping to achieve the status as a 100%   survivors team which is now the criteria for festival racing. 

Boobops and Waikato Treasure Chests have joined forces and are planning to compete in a Dragon Boat Festival in Coloundra (Sunshine Coast) in September.  The combined team “Pink Kiwis” is now training together regularly, rain, hail or anything but warmth. Winter training is a new experience for us all. 20 women clad in layers of thermal gear, beanies and gloves in a dragon boat may never be photographed, but is a sight to see.

Dragon boating is so much more than just a sport to us.  We appreciate and value the camaraderie of an incredible group of women.  Our aim always is to support and empower women after breast cancer while increasing fitness and good health. 

For further information about joining our teams as a survivor or supporter please contact BCAC.

The Breast Cancer Research Trust Achievement Party, May 15 2007
The BCRT Achievement Party was held on Tuesday 15 May to celebrate the considerable achievements of the Trust over the last year. Invited guests joined BCRT patron Trelise Cooper and the BCRT Board of Trustees at Fables Restaurant in Parnell, Auckland. There was even more to celebrate as two new research grants were announced at the cocktail party event.

The two research grants were awarded to Professor Peter Lobie and to Dr. ‘Benji’ Benjamin. The grant to Mr. Lobie will support his work towards the identification and characterization of a trefoil factor (TFF) receptor and the award to Dr Benjamin will be used to research more intensive and targeted radiotherapy treatments to breast cancer patients, hopefully reducing the number of visits required and the time spent at each visit.

Professor Peter Lobie
The much publicized drug Herceptin is known as a ‘targeted therapy’ in that it specifically targets the estrogen receptor and HER2 pathways of breast cancers. Other therapies target selective estrogen modulators e.g. the aromatase inhibitors. However, many breast cancers are not receptive to these therapies because they neither express the estrogen receptor nor overexpress the HER2 protein.

‘Delineation, characterisation and development of therapeutic regimes targeting novel signaling pathways involved in the development of breast cancer are therefore required. With the advent of high-throughput global genomic strategies, many potential novel genes specifically associated with breast cancer have been tentatively identified. The putative proteins coded by these functionally non-characterised genes may possess both diagnostic and therapeutic uses. The overarching aim of the work funded by The Breast Cancer Research Trust in Professor Lobie’s laboratory is to characterise, and develop methods of inhibition of, these novel and clinically relevant proteins involved in breast cancer.’ (Source: The Breast Cancer Research Trust)

Mr Lobie will conduct his research over a three year period at The Liggins Institute, a research institute within the University of Auckland. Find out more about The Liggins Institute.

Dr Chelleraj Benjamin
The BCRT has awarded a research grant to Dr. Chelleraj Benjamin for his Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Study (APBI Study). The duration of the project is 3 years commencing June 2007. This study trials targeted radiotherapy using external tradition radiotherapy machinery to deliver a dosage of radiotherapy to the post operative breast in 10 doses over one week compared with current treatment regime consisting of 25 does over five weeks.

BCRT Trustees from L to R: Carolyn Hobson, Elizabeth Brown, Hilary Lewis, Dianne McAteer, Andréa Lamb, John Harman, Alison Taylor (Chair) in front.

About the Breast Cancer Research Trust
The Breast Cancer Research Trust is New Zealand’s only non-profit organisation established solely to fund research into a cure for breast cancer. ‘Funds raised are allocated to only the most outstanding and visionary research and researchers in New Zealand – without restriction to any one institution – our only vested interest being knowledge and breakthroughs in both clinical and genetic research that move us closer towards a new, brighter, breast cancer-free future.’ (Source: The Breast Cancer Research Trust)

The Breast Cancer Research Trust now has a new-look website that contains information about the Trust and its activities and resources. There is also a very useful page with links to other informative breast cancer related websites. ‘We will be continually refreshing our website with updates on the research we are sponsoring and upcoming events. Add www.bcrt.org.nz to your favourites and regularly visit to see the progress we are making towards our goal of finding a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime.’

Breast Cancer Support Inc Holds Weekend Workshop, 5/6 May 2007
Breast Cancer Support Inc (BCS) held a two day training programme for their volunteer group facilitators and telephone support people Saturday and Sunday May 5 and 6 at the Auckland Cancer Society. The programme aimed to provide the volunteers with helpful skills enabling them to give emotional and practical support to women affected by breast cancer.Techniques covered in the course were based upon a one to one contact scenario between a BCS volunteer who has had breast cancer and another woman who has requested support.The BCS page on this website provides more information about this support organisation.

Breast Cancer Network (NZ) Presents Petition to Parliament
BCN presented their 10,700 signature petition to Parliament on November 9 calling for a breast cancer strategy aimed at reducing the incidence of the disease. The petition was well received by MP Sue Kedgley.

Gillian Woods (BCN) presents the petition to MPs

‘The incidence of breast cancer in this country is among the highest in the world,’ BCN stated in their press release. ‘We can no longer justify any delay in tackling the rising incidence of breast cancer … there is a substantial body of evidence that shows that environmental and lifestyle factors influence breast cancer risk; this evidence is sufficient to provide sound, comprehensive information to the public, and it can form the basis for government action to reduce harmful environmental exposure.’

The Reconstructables Present ‘Black Pearls’ Calendar to MPs
BCAC member group The Reconstructables have produced their calendar ‘Black Pearls’ and Chair Raewyn Calvert, hosted by National MP Jackie Blue and Executive Assistant Margaret Voyce, presented copies to MPs on Wednesday November 8.  The goal of The Reconstructables is to ‘ensure that every New Zealand woman who chooses to have a breast reconstruction following breast cancer surgery is guaranteed that option’. Further distribution of the calendar will include DHBs and other officials.

The presentation was well covered by the media – Raewyn and Amanda Rudd appeared on TV One news and Raewyn was interviewed on Radio NZ (Friday November 10) with Jackie Blue and Dr. John Harman. Raewyn’s local paper, The Waikato Times, has covered the calendar project on three occasions and a feature article will appear in the next issue of Pink magazine.

Raewyn said the day was amazing and much bigger that she had expected. ‘The day could not have gone better,’ she said. ‘We got very encouraging feedback from several MPs including one, a cancer survivor himself, who asked me to sign his calendar.’

The calendar presents images of women who have undergone mastectomies without reconstruction and the covering letter explains: ‘The women who posed for this calendar have done so from the heart with the support and blessing of their loved ones. It has taken immense courage and has not been done for the good of the individuals, but for the well being of all New Zealand women.’

A formal launch for the calendar is expected in Auckland soon.
And it looks like The Reconstructables are already making a difference. Since the calendar was delivered to Parliament, several women who were removed from waiting lists have now been given appointments with surgical teams at DHBs so we're hopeful that reconstructions will resume.

Breast Cancer Support Incorporates.

BCS Chair Marie Goudge

Supporter Events

Herceptin Hero Anne Hayden Launches 'Laugh Your Tits Off!'
Herceptin Heroes Chair Anne Hayden launched her book, ‘Laugh Your Tits Off!’ at an event held in Devonport Tuesday 7 November. Anne is well known for the Anne Easter Hayden Herceptin Petition which she presented to Parliament on 16 March this year and the new venture into writing was a direct result of her own experience with breast cancer.

At the launch, L to R: Claire Ryan, Anne Hayden, Carlene Wolfgram, Jane Bissell, Libby Burgess

‘This book was written to meet a gap in the marketplace, where most of the literature around this subject is earnest, well-meaning, and pretty sombre. In my research I found one paragraph about how humour can aid healing. Yet for my husband and I, our senses of humour pulled us through and made us strong enough to face the next hurdle. What we joked about became the cartoons in ‘Laugh Your Tits Off!’ Practical tips designed to add comfort and support in this unenviable situation are woven into its pages.’

Anne Hayden speaking at the launch

Anne hopes those who read her little book will laugh too and reap the benefits a good dose of humour can bring.

Anne will donate $1 to the BCAC for every copy sold. The book can be ordered via the publisher, FirstEdition, at 0800 782 547 or selfpublish@gmail.com or through the website www.laughyourtitsoff.com.