Share the Power and tell everyone
- by Hilary Maxwell, Chair
- •
- 08 May, 2019
GO Girls join as coalition partner for World Ovarian Cancer Day to Share the Power and tell everyone “ovarian cancer is pants”
Every year ovarian cancer charities from across the world join together on 8th May to raise the profile of the disease.This year GO Girls who support women with gynaecological cancers are supporting a national campaign, led by author and ovarian cancer patient, Fi Munro, to share the power by telling everyone “ovarian cancer is pants”.
Over 7,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer annually in the UK, of whom 4200 women die of the disease taking the lives of 140,000 women globally each year. The World Ovarian Cancer Coalition state that just 45% of women are likely to survive 5 years compared to 89% of women with breast cancer. This disease causes more deaths than other female productive cancers and unlike cervical cancer the disease does not have a detectable pre-invasive phase.
“We are asking all women to show their support by wearing a pair of teal pants and take a selfie of themselves or a picture with their friends to show their support. Teal is the colour for ovarian cancer and what better way to show your support? Women have done this with breast wearing pink bras to raise profile of breast cancer and it’s about time we did something similar for ovarian cancer”, said Hilary Maxwell, Chair of GO Girls.
“We are delighted to be partnering with the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition”, said Jen Barron, Head of Strategy. “Britain has been highlighted as the lowest in the world for ovarian cancer diagnosis. This is a disgrace. We believe this is likely to be two-fold: lack of knowledge of the symptoms by women – which is why we launched our ABC campaign - and too often a lack of recognition by primary care providers who often believe symptoms to be related to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)”.
The National Institute of Clinical Evidence (NICE) state that IBS rarely develops for the first time in women over 50 – a key age group where incidence of ovarian cancer is higher. Consequently, symptoms may often be mistakenly attributed to IBS. “We are asking GPs to think about this carefully and ensure they ask all the right and pertinent questions of their patients who often may feel embarrassed discussing these”, added Hilary Maxwell. “Consequently, women are often diagnosed late, by which time the disease has spread and the prognosis is poor”.
Alongside GO Girls encouraging an army of women to show their support in their teal pants, the World Cancer Coalition has asked each partner, support and affiliates to choose a song or two for a playlist to be aired on the day. GO Girls have chosen two songs which they felt represented them – Dancing in the Sky by Danni & Lizzy and Send me an Angel by the Scorpions.
“We really hope as many people across the region and country will put their big girls teal pants on and show their support – it’s time we shared the power and created change for the future – the daughters – let’s not let another generations’ lives be devasted by the scourge that is ovarian cancer”, said Jen Barron. “We are encouraging all women to use the hashtags #ovariancancerispants #tealpants #ovariancancerday #wocdyplaylist
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We are delighted to welcome Jessica as a new Trustee.
In the process of becoming a lawyer, Jessica has played a pivotal role in assembling and guiding several businesses on a multitude of levels that assist in promoting ethical, social and industry standards. Alongside providing hands-on support to businesses, Jessica is a founder of charity Bona Fide, where she established and drove forward the ‘Beyond Bluewashing’ initiative, to bring public attention to the unethical corporate world and its effects on society. In addition, she has published many academic journals, articles and law reviews in the area of business law, as well as encouraging corporate philanthropic encouragement. Jessica is a keen advocator for causes close to her heart, one of which is related to GO Girls, as she is passionate about propelling forward awareness on these overshadowed cancers that impact many globally.
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