Tea at Four - QUICK CUPPA: Christie learns how to check her chest for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this week’s Quick Cuppa is in partnership with CoppaFeel! Christie talks to a CoppaFeel! Boobette to understand how important it is to know your body, understand the signs and symptoms, as well as mythbusting and how to support loved ones who have cancer. CoppaFeel! is a charity that educates and raises awareness of breast cancer - reminding everyone to check their chest! Head to coppafeel.org to learn more about the life saving work that CoppaFeel! does.

Hi, welcome back to Tia4. Today I'm really excited to have a couple with Copperfield for Breast Cancer Awareness Month to remind you to check your chest. Hello Hannah, would you like to introduce yourself? Yep, so I am Hannah. I am volunteer as a boobette for Copperfield and I've been here today to spread awareness and spread the message about checking yourself. Yes, so I am aware that October is the month of breast cancer awareness when I did find out that October is that month I was just like wow I actually don't remember the last time I was told to check or myself did have I checked it's usually I'm a sucker for soaps if a storyline like a soap for instance EastEnders that's my

favorite right they talk have a story on someone's got breast cancer then i'm like oh my god you become aware again there you go so um i'm actually happy that you're here to raise awareness because it's very very important and i know that you've got a lot of like tips interesting stories and your own personal experience on breast cancer so i'd love to hear about that. Yeah, so I got diagnosed with breast cancer, primary breast cancer, when I was 30. I found a little dimple on my boob when I was on holiday, gave it a good poke, felt a lump, thought that's not quite right, made an appointment with my GP and then from there went to breast clinic, got diagnosed and I started treatment. I got diagnosed in 2020. So I started treatment just before lockdown and had all of my treatment whilst we were in lockdown, which was kind of isolating and a lonely place.

But I got through it. And thank you. and um i really um looked at social media a lot during lockdown to try and find people who were similar to my age yeah that had been diagnosed with breast cancer because i always thought it was an older woman's disease yeah um but there are younger women that get breast cancer it's the most common form of cancer in young women um in the uk UK and I didn't really know about that beforehand and I had heard of Copperfield before yeah so a friend that of mine from university got diagnosed when we were in our 20s before then I didn't even check my boobs didn't realize it was a thing yeah but because of her diagnosis it raised my awareness so when I then got diagnosed because

I'd been checking and i noticed something that wasn't normal yeah um i followed copperfield on instagram looked at their social media and i heard about the boo bets which is a group of women that have had a personal contact with the disease whether they've had it themselves or a family member or a friend and um that was kind of like my my aim when I finished treatment I wanted to go out and spread awareness I love that yeah um yeah and how has that been like I feel like for me as well especially hearing about breast cancer it's not especially in the black community you do not hear it at all and I did read up a lot of like black people are more commonly diagnosed with breast cancer.

So it's like, why is it not out there? I guess a good question to start with is, do you feel like it's as important as sex education in schools? 100%. Yeah. Yeah. And the Bebets from Copperfield, we do like to go out and spread the message at schools. We're more relatable. We like to think because we're younger yeah um younger women

that are going in and spreading the message but we also like to say that you know breast cancer can affect every race every gender yeah um you know guys gals non-binary pals you know getting to know yourself it can save your life yeah um it can affect anybody um and we really want to spread that message and be diverse and inclusive with that message too so how would I or anybody that's listening check for symptoms what's the first kind of sign so well we recommend that you check once a month and we do send out free text reminders you know like little poems or little funny things to remind you yeah but it's really important to do it where you feel most comfortable so it may be you know having a wash in the shower maybe when you're getting changed maybe when you're moisturizing

could be on the sofa um wherever feels good for you yeah um but we recommend looking and feeling so it's looking for things like changes in your nipples so is it inverting as if you've got a rash yeah um is it change direction have you got any dimples um has your skin texture changed so does it look a bit like orange peel or is it thickened and we also recommend feeling so yeah are there any lumps or kind of bumps or things that don't feel right and we really recommend that you feel your whole breast tissue so this is women and men so pecs breasts whatever word you want to use yeah um people don't really realize that you have to go right up to your collarbone and into your armpit

that's where your breast tissue spreads to so it's not just your boob or your peck it's all the way up and around um so yeah we recommend that you do it once a month and if you do spot something that isn't normal for you and this is what we're encouraging we're encouraging to you to know you're normal so if something doesn't quite feel right you can go to your GP and get it checked out um but also like be aware that you know your breast tissue and your chest tissue it changes with age and it also changes with your monthly kind of hormonal cycle as well so I feel like for me if i was to like check i think one day i'll be like let's say for instance i found something like oh it's just just a blip i'll wait for a day or two second day okay it's cool the following week i don't feel it no more do you feel like as as soon as you are aware of some sort of change in your body is that when you

should actually do make the first move because a lot of us a lot of the time we see something oh you know what it's okay i'll check on it later i don't know it's just like a secondary thing because you don't really want to think about it yeah so what do you um we recommend that you keep an eye on it yeah about a week and if after a week it's still there or you're concerned there's absolutely no harm call your gp and go and get it checked out there is um a checklist on the copper fill website it's called a self-checkout tool to help guide you yeah to give you some advice i mean i'm not a medical expert so i would definitely recommend seeking medical attention or going to the checklist but if you spot something keep an eye on it yeah you know feel it is it changing um and go and get

it checked out if you're worried definitely we'll definitely be doing that not putting it to the side because it's definitely important and how can you support people with cancer what's like the best way because i know it's a very touching subject and you don't want to be too yeah it's just it's yeah yeah how do we support people with cancer so everybody's slightly different but my tips for what i found was useful for me was to not avoid the subject when people when I had my diagnosis and I was going through treatment I didn't like it when people avoided the subject you know and treated it like an elephant in the room I wanted people to ask how I was yeah and even though it's an emotive subject and I may have got upset I would have said if I didn't want to talk about

it there and then but actually just asking but I think the most valuable thing that you can give people is time so it could be time things like doing their their weekly food shop actually are they really tired and they just don't want to go to the supermarket or yeah go and cook them a nice meal and freeze some portions so when they are feeling tired or they're not feeling you know they're having a bit of a bad day they know that they've got some like a nice meal or something in the freezer um and buying things like a blanket or a comfy pillow if you want to if you want to get a gift that's what i appreciated pair of fluffy socks went a long way

um or like a nice bit of hand cream um but everybody's different a lot of my friends did actually buy me books um because i love reading but when i was going through treatment i couldn't i just couldn't concentrate so um you may not get it right first time you just ask the person what they want they may know so what are the misconceptions of breast cancer I feel like for me I remember one time I think I think a friend's mother was like it's sleep with your phone under your pillow or wearing like wired bras radiation but what are the like the common misconceptions So you've definitely named a couple. So that's the top two, definitely.

So mobile phones is a common misconception. Ultimately, they're still a really new technology and we don't know enough. I wouldn't recommend putting your phone in your bra. No, don't do that, guys. I definitely wouldn't recommend sleeping with it under your pillow, more because it's a fire risk. Yeah, of course, definitely.

But we just don't know enough. But there's no signs to show that it does cause breast cancer. Yeah. Another misconception is deodorant. Oh, wow. Yeah. Spraying it too close. I heard that one.

Don't spray it. I'm thinking, but... Well, we would recommend that you definitely still wear deodorant um but there's you know deodorants out there now if you are conscious about what you're putting on your skin there are deodorants out there that are more natural based so maybe if it's something you're aware of look into it but again there's no kind of proof that deodorant causes it and underwired bras is another really common misconception or the wrong sized bra yeah i mean ultimately it's just uncomfortable yeah so go and get it go and get a comfortable bra or go and get your sizing done um but again there's no research it's kind of a fake news yeah there's no research to prove

that wearing an underwired bra will cause you to have breast cancer yeah okay that's actually fun to like nice to hear because i'm pretty sure that's one thing that's on everybody like a young person's mind like maybe it's this maybe it's that and we just don't do the research we just go by the rumors that are out there or like this person said this but if you don't go out and actually search for yourself or go on sites like copperfield how how are you gonna know exactly exactly yeah did you ever hear that rumor in school if you punch someone in the breast you get cancer i've heard it but that's not a misconception that we've ever spoken about

so i wouldn't be able to know what the cop of your standpoint is but i've you know i've definitely heard that before um but it's almost like you know when people used to get punched in the arm after they had a bcg or like the jab the jab i just think just don't do it. But I don't think that it, I don't, as far as I'm aware, there's nothing that shows a punch to the boob will cause you to have cancer. Nobody should be punching anybody to the boob. Just don't do it.

Just don't hit anyone. Yeah, that's the secret area. Let's not do that. Keep your hands to yourself, guys. Don't punch him. So Hannah, what advice would you give to someone who's just been diagnosed what really helped me is find your community whether that's being the form of a

support group through social media somebody who's similar in age to you um maybe find somebody who's gone through that experience that you can ask the questions that you wouldn't maybe ask your friends or family that aren't going through what you've gone through and because some of the questions maybe um your family might be embarrassed to answer or just not give you the best advice so maybe seek out a community a support community um and you're not alone it will feel like you're alone you'll be incredibly emotional and anxious and that's okay yeah allow allow that emotion don't bottle that up yeah you yeah feel the emotions you're going to feel um it's okay you you aren't alone and when you're ready find your community um and just take the

time to also you know speak to your medical team or anyone that's signposted to you um and when you feel ready to like speak out about your journey why you know why not help spread awareness like i did yeah and um where can we for anyone that's listening everyone that's watching where can we find more information about copperfield what's the best way to get in contact because everybody needs to know amazing yes so um if you're into your social media then of course there's the usual social media channels instagram i think is my favorite one that copperfield do um copperfield has a website that's so many tools on there signpost you to other places if you need to has a self

checkout tool um you can book a boobette so i volunteer for the boobettes there's um over 150 boobettes so you can book a boobette talk in your organization your workplace you know wherever you know you are um and help to spread awareness and there's also things you can order through the website like shower stickers um you can sign up for the text service and you can get balloons all sorts of things um like that so the website is a really good place to go i think everybody should go in the tech service because everyone's on their phones and i thought that's something that it's good to just have a reminder about i think one somebody said that they have a group chat that some that every like month or so somebody puts it in there like guys have we checked like it's time to check and i feel like that's friends

supporting friends exactly and it's very very much important it's like we're not all going through it it's not just one person going through it we're all going through it so it's very very much important it's like we're not all going through it it's not just one person going through it we're all going through it so it's very very important and I'm so glad that you're on here today speaking about breast cancer awareness and making sure that the support is out there and people are aware yes that it's a problem for us all check your chest everyone check your chest thank you so much Hannah we really appreciate having you here and thank you so much and continue doing great great work out there oh thank you thanks everyone no worries thank you guys for tuning in if you have any question or advice make sure you guys get in contact with copper phil search online register for the text alert and make sure you check your chest like they said here and

if you enjoyed this mini episode and this quick cuppa make sure you check your chest like they said here and if you enjoyed this mini episode and this quick cuppa make sure you guys like comment subscribe and follow us on your favorite podcast platform bye