MY CONNECTION
15 years ago my beautiful mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. A year ago she passed away from this terrible disease. She is the strongest woman I know fighting this disease for so long. I know how much pressure it can put on a person when this type of news hits your family, both financially and emotionally. For my mother (being a single mother of two) this news was devastating, thinking about the financial toll this would take while the most important thing was for her to concentrate on was her recovery. The Breast Cancer Association of Queensland (TBCAQ) gives aid to families going through these same situations. I know how this would have helped us so much during the early years of Mums diagnosis.
In the last of her days with us we could not have coped without the support of our regional nurses. They visited our home daily, not only supporting Mum and making sure she was comfortable but they also provided us with such wonderful guidance. TBCAQ also provide funding for regional nurses to visit remote homes where normally there would be no chance of nursing support.
TBCAQ helps in so many wonderful ways and really need all the financial assistance they can get to support their fantastic organisation.
TBCAQ INFORMATION
The Breast Cancer Association of Queensland is a volunteer managed charity organisation dedicated to improving breast cancer services to women living in rural and regional Queensland by providing grants for the education and placement of breast care nurses, research grants, rural seminars and produce a Resource Directory of services and support available throughout Queensland. We also provide financial assistance grants for rural and regional patients for expenses relating to the treatment and travel costs.Breast Cancer Association of Queensland exists to improve the quality of life for women with breast cancer and their families in Queensland. Every year in Australia approximately 13 000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer.
The Breast Cancer Association of Queensland's main focus has been to provide breast care services to women and their families in rural Queensland. Initiatives include the training and placing of support breast care nurses in Rockhampton, Longreach/Barcaldine, Mitchell, Emerald, Fraser Coast and now the Central West District. Annual seminars in regional areas help to raise awareness in the community of the importance of regular examinations. We also produce a Resource Directory and post-operative exercise DVD's free of charge to breast cancer sufferers. BCAQ have also invested substantially into various research programs in Brisbane.
BCAQ have funded over 20 nurses to further studies in Breast Care via the Distance Education program at La Trobe University, as mentioned above we have previously funded four nurses and in 2009 established two more nurses to provide support and breast care services in regional Queensland. We provided a research grant to Queensland Institute of Medical Research for Dr Geoffrey Beadle's project that will look at long term survivors of breast cancer. Our board plan to continue to expand the Breast Care Nurse program, provide financial assistance for rural women with the costs associated with travel and expenses relating to breast cancer, provided an additional $10,000 towards Dr Neil Wetzig's research into the surgical management of breast cancer.
