About Us

Staff

Administrator - Jennifer Woodroofe

Jennifer Woodroofe is the administrator for the Breast Cancer Network.
Here is her story.

Not long after our move from Kawerau to Auckland in 1997 I began to notice a "something" in my left breast. It was not a 'lump' was just a 'feeling' with no pain. As there was no family history of breast cancer, the topic was far from my mind when I finally decided to go and see my GP one day. I left his office in a slight state of shock, armed with a mammogram/ultrasound form and sent off to the nearest place that would take me for these urgently. The mammogram showed up nothing at all but the ultrasound showed this "2.5cm thing" pulsating away merrily in my breast. One look at this "thing" was enough to have my gut feeling made into reality. Saw a Specialist the following week ;and was given a partial mastectomy which resulted in a diagnoses of Medullary Breast Cancer, and the next week an auxillary lymph node dissection. This showed the sentinel node positive, out of the 11 taken.

In my case this type of breast cancer was not detected by mammogram and had it not been for my GP insisting on me being given an ultrasound at the same time, the outcome today could have been very different.6 weeks of radiotherapy and 3 months of CMF chemotherapy followed the operations, and these are not times I would like to repeat in a hurry, but I did manage to stay working all the way through.

Unfortunately, breast and arm Lymphoedema have become a result of the treatments, and as long as I keep myself alert to what triggers it, it can be controlled. Lymphoedema is something that breast cancer patients who have had lymph node removal, should be made aware of in case it happens to them, and can, at any stage of their journey.

Family, ( Husband, 4 children, 9 grandchildren and 1 very demanding Abyssinian cat) friends, a positive attitude, keeping busy, listening to ones body and its needs,gardening, reading,and playing Ten Pin Bowling are all veryimportant to me and I look forward to my 10 year anniversary in September 2007.But mostly, I love listening to birds singing in the trees.

Upfront Editor - Sue Claridge

Coming from the happy position of not having had breast cancer, the months since starting as editor of Upfront have been a steep learning curve for me. While I thought that I was pretty well informed about breast cancer issues, being a woman concerned about my health and the mother of a daughter, in reality I have found that the whole business of breast cancer, from diagnosis through to post treatment life adjustment, is a complicated business for any woman who is forced to have to contend with this disease.

Over the last few years I have become increasingly involved in public health issues as a freelance researcher and writer. I prefer to work on projects which I feel will make a difference to people's lives and that is reflected in much of my recent work: editing a quarterly newsletter for a non-profit organisation and freelance writing for Organic New Zealand and Healthy Options magazines.

There are a number of issues which come up time and again and breast cancer is no different. One of the things about which I harbour the greatest concern is informed consent and the making of informed decisions. I am a staunch advocate of the rights of women to obtain information and to make informed decisions about their health. Sadly, I am coming to the conclusion that this is as big an issue for women with breast cancer as it is for any other sector of the community dealing with any other health issue. Women faced with breast cancer are particularly vulnerable and it is essential that they feel that they 'own' the decisions surrounding their care and recovery. I hope that in my role as editor of Upfront, I can help inform women and facilitate more informed decision making.

My husband Bryan and I have two children, Stephie and Jordan, and a loopy Rhodesian Ridgeback, Marley. I'm passionate about writing, organics, the environment and a better, healthier life. In my 'free' time I enjoy photography, house renovation and building furniture and one day I'll get back to camping, skiing and other outdoor pursuits.

History

By Barbara Mason

The Breast Cancer Support Society was established in Auckland in the mid 1960’s initially to ensure women left hospital with a prosthesis. In the late 1980s Barbara Holt, founder of Breast Cancer Network, was a committee member with this group. She first met co-founder Wendy Steenstra-Bloomfield and other founding members of Breast Cancer Network at the “Opening Up” seminars organised by Betsy Marshall of the Cancer Society. However they felt the need for another group and wrote to 20 women who were survivors, supporters and health professionals. They modelled the new national group on San Francisco’s ‘Breast Cancer Action.’

The first newsletter was written by Barbara Holt and produced in December 1993. Barbara Holt did everything –chairperson, edited newsletters, networked, lobbied and handled most of the administration. She brought Nancy Evans from USA to New Zealand as a speaker, and promoted the environmental breast cancer movie, Rachel's Daughters. Since then there have been three Administrators. Dianne Speed was appointed in August 1998, a year before Barbara resigned as Chairperson.

In April 2002 Nicola Timms took over for two years, and Jennifer Woodroofe became the Administrator in September 2004. Auckland free-lance writer Robyn Yousef was appointed as editor of the newsletter in January 1999 and Sue Claridge appointed in January 2004.

Originally called Breast Cancer Action Aotearoa NZ Inc, the name was changed to Breast Cancer Network NZ in 1998. This reflected an increasing number of breast cancer networks operating in Australia and Canada and our view that it is more effective for breast cancer groups to work cooperatively. Breast Cancer Network Australia was formed in 1998. BCN initially worked towards the establishment of a free national screening programme and considered it a major milestone when BreastScreen Aoteoroa was launched in 1998.

From 1999, when Barbara Holt left Auckland to live at Ruakaka, Gillian Woods acted as chairperson while the committee sought an appointee. Darien Kerkin was appointed as Treasurer, and Gillian was appointed Chairperson from 2002 to 2004. During this time there were new developments at BCN: a leaflet informing women about BCN was developed and a bookmark giving information about breast cancer risk reduction, the Introductory Issue of Upfront and new members' pack was instituted, a website was set up, Stop Cancer Where it Starts was launched - with the publication of two leaflets about risk reduction of breast cancer. These have been a step forward for changing attitudes to breast cancer.

Working with representatives from the Auckland Breast Cancer Coalition from 2002 to 2003, BCN helped develop a proposal for a Breast Cancer Consumer Representation Programme.

To acknowledge our tenth anniversary year in 2003 we made several grants to breast cancer Support Groups around NZ, and another to a research project in which we participated. A Strategic Plan was developed and annual planning days took place. Submissions were sent to parliament. Members attended breast cancer conferences in Canada and in Australia.

Working cooperatively with other groups has been achieved by the distribution of Upfront, participation in the two Auckland coalitions, visits to groups around the country, a national petition and personal contact. We keep in close touch with Breast Cancer Network Australia who have kindly given assistance to BCN over several years. During our first 10 years we saw two major New Zealand groups set up and take on the raising of funds and awareness for breast cancer - the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation and the Breast Cancer Research Trust. BCN has seen the rise of specialist breast surgeons and nurses, and specialist breast physicians (whose registration has unfortunately been stopped) join treatment teams, all to women's benefit. There have also been new treatments and more positive outcomes.

Meetings were initially held in Barbara Holt’s home, then in Everill Orr Village where we had our first office, later at the Community House in Mt Albert, and since 2001 we have enjoyed free office space provided by our sponsors, Bakers Delight, in Penrose.

A bequest of $10,000 was left to us by a member in the early days, and this was used to keep the organisation going and take on an Editor for the newsletter. The newsletter was given its new name, Upfront, in mid-1999. In 2002 a similarly large sum was donated from Homecare when it ceased to be a charitable organisation. We have received grants from COGS since 2000 and Lottery grants since 1995 and have been supported by a number of other generous sponsors. (Please see "Supporters".)

We have participated in, and made grants to research. Our main project was called ‘A pilot study to investigate the effects of soy milk as compared with dairy milk on disease risk parameters in a small group of New Zealand Women’ undertaken by Professor Lynn Ferguson of Auckland University. We made a grant of $5000 to Ray Simpkin of Device Works (IRL) for his non-ionising radiation imaging of breast tissue, which is still under development. Altogether BCN has contributed over $12,000 towards research.

We now move to the present where this year (2007) we are organising a first NZ wide conference for women. This follows from the inspiring experience BCN members enjoyed when they attended a Breast Cancer Network Australia conference in 2004. Dell Gee, Conference Convenor, and Jenny Clark, Treasurer, are leading the conference team with help from committee, supporters and a great team in Rotorua.

The other current project is Stop Cancer Where it Starts, where we have distributed several thousand life-style leaflets to healthy women over the last two years, and presented a petition to parliament calling on the Government to address the high incidence and resultant high impact of breast cancer on the health of New Zealand women. The petition has been referred to the Health Select Committee and we await its outcome.

In November 2005 the Breast Cancer Advocacy Coalition (now called Breast Cancer Aoteoroa Coalition) was established in Auckland. BCN participated in the first initiatives and was represented on the steering group until recently.

Breast Cancer Network welcomes enquiries and new members. Members are drawn from those who have experienced breast cancer and their families, supporters and health practitioners. Our newsletter Upfront, offers information and an opportunity to share your thoughts with others if you wish. We also offer information via our website and office, advocacy on national issues, promotion of breast cancer prevention, networking with other women, and this year we offer women an amazing conference experience. We warmly invite you to contact us.

Below: Jennifer Woodroofe

Below: Left to Right Jenny Clark & Claire Ryan

Below: Barbara holt, BCN founder

Below: Lois Muir, BCN Patron

Below: Left to Right, Dell Gee, Sue Claridge & Marie Hastings,with Bakers Delight staff, BCNA conference 2004