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Stop Cancer where it starts PLUS Media Release
Annual General Meeting 2007
PLUS An Evening with Lyn Swinburne & Raelene Boyle
Livlif Exhibition
An Evening with Lyn Swinburne & Raelene Boyle
Sometimes great people are spurred on to do great things because of a simple act that represents such injustice to their soul that it spurs action, passion and along the way people who understand and recognise this join the cause and eventually change is inevitable.In 1993 when Lyn Swinburne was told by a nurse in a very off-hand way over the phone that she had breast cancer she was so incensed that she decided to do something about it. Women with breast cancer deserved better than this.
Lyn is the Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Network Australia and during a recent visit to New Zealand she found time in her hectic schedule to have dinner with a group of very appreciative BCAC and BCN ladies. Olympian Raelene Boyle, also a breast cancer survivor and a major player in BCNA also attended the dinner.
You can’t help but get caught up in her strength and passion for raising awareness and improving the way women and breast cancer patients are handled in Australia. She’s a straight talker and has an extraordinary gift for getting what she wants. As Raelene told the meeting, when she went public she was surrounded by people wanting her to represent their cause. One day she was being shuffled into a lift by her minders as the media frenzy became a little hectic and all she remembers is a foot thrusting itself into the left and in squeezed Lyn. “By the time we got to the ground floor I felt like I’d known her all my life and the rest is history” Raelene says. The two have gone on to achieve extraordinary acts such as the “Field of women” where mass rallies of women around Australia stand united in pink to make the shape of a women. One of the largest of these was on the MCG turf when 11,500 people cloaked in pink ponchos gathered to represent the number of Australian women diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) was formed following the First National Breast Cancer Conference for Women in Canberra in October 1998. Following a public meeting in every state and territory, over 300 women from all corners of Australia came together to discuss issues for people personally affected by breast cancer. They also identified ways of addressing these issues and compiled an action plan which included actions required at national, state and local levels. The recommendations and strategies recognised by women were compiled into the Making a Difference Report.
Today the network is the leading national breast cancer "consumer" organisation representing 124 member groups and more than 13,000 individuals in all states and territories.
BCNA’s policies are simple:
1. Every woman should be able to access a range of treatment choices so that together with her oncologist she can make the best decision for her circumstances.
2. Women need excellent information to make good choices.
3. Women need to be at the centre of the breast cancer [or health service] system, not an after thought.
4. Good evidence leads to good practice.
5. Consumers need to be involved in research.
Lyn is an amazing woman and we were very lucky to enjoy an evening with her and Raelene.
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Group photo with Lyn Swinburne and Raelene Boyle in front row
Group photo