Pink Your Party this Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month why not support Breakthrough Breast Cancer's Pink Your Party campaign and hold a party to raise funds for its vital research, campaigning and education work. It's a great excuse to get together with friends and family. Your party could be everything from a dinner party, office party or even a Halloween or birthday party, just have some fun and make it pink!

Once again, M&S is supporting the campaign and has lots of fabulous pink products in store to help make each party go with a swing - including cute chocolate lollies, bouquets of flowers and pretty pink pyjamas. All of M&S' specially designed pink products carry a 10% donation to Breakthrough to help fund its vital research, campaigning and education work.

To get involved and for a free Pink Your Party pack full of fundraising tips and ideas, visit www.pinkyourparty.org.uk or call the Pink Your Party hotline on 0845 059 7707.

Breast Cancer Vital Statistics

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK - nearly 46,000 women and around 300 men are diagnosed every year - and incidence of the disease is rising year on year. In fact, one in nine women in the UK will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime and more than 1,000 women die of the disease every month in the UK. There is good news though; more women than ever are surviving breast cancer thanks to better awareness, better screening and better treatments.

Breast Awareness

Breakthrough Breast Cancer encourages all women to show their breasts some TLC. This means:

Touch your breasts. Feel for anything unusual

Look for changes. Be aware of their shape and size

Check anything unusual with your doctor. Chat with your friends if you are worried.

Being breast aware doesn't mean following a fancy routine for examining your breasts. It just means being familiar with how they look and feel so that you notice changes and can report anything unusual to your doctor. If cancer is diagnosed, prompt treatment offers the best chance of a successful outcome.

It's not only lumps you need to look out for; there are other less well known signs to look for including:

• Size or shape - eg one breast might become larger or lower than the other
• Changes in skin texture - such as puckering or dimpling of the skin
• Appearance or direction of nipple - eg one nipple might become inverted (turned-in)
• Discharge - one or both nipples might discharge a blood-stained liquid
• Rash - or crusting of the nipple or surrounding area
• Lump - in the breast or armpit
• Lumpy area - or unusual thickening of breast tissue that doesn't go away after your period
• Pain- in part of the breast or armpit that is unrelated to periods.

Visit www.touchlookcheck.org.uk for more information

Where your money goes:

Breakthrough Breast Cancer established the UK's first dedicated breast cancer research centre in London, in partnership with the Institute of Cancer Research, in 1999. Here world-class scientists carry out pioneering research into breast cancer, bringing together different research specialisms under one roof. This innovative, focused approach should result in scientific discoveries that bring direct benefits to cancer patients more quickly.

With the help of supporters, Breakthrough scientists have:

• Launched The Breakthrough Generation Study, the most comprehensive investigation ever undertaken into the causes of breast cancer, in partnership with The Institute of Cancer Research. The study involves 100,000 women and spans 40 years
• Launched the Triple Negative Trial with Cancer Research UK. The is the first UK-based trial into triple negative tumours, which don't respond to hormone therapy or Herceptin
• Launched the ACU.FATIGUE study, the world's largest clinical trial investigating whether acupuncture may help women with breast cancer cope with cancer-related fatigue
• Set up the largest ever study into the causes of male breast cancer, in partnership with the Institute of Cancer Research
• Set up three new Breakthrough Breast Cancer research units in Edinburgh, London and Manchester. Each unit will complement work at the Breakthrough Research Centre.