East Midlands MEP backs initiatives to raise awareness of breast cancer

East Midlands MEP Emma McClarkin has started the New Year by backing two initiatives to raise awareness of breast cancer.

The Conservative MEP, who lost her mother to the disease, and whose aunt recovered from it, is helping to launch a cross-party Written Declaration on breast cancer, which has four main aims:

• To raise awareness of breast cancer among both new MEPs and returning ones, and to inform them about the provisions of the 2003 and 2006 European Parliament Resolutions on breast cancer.
• To highlight that the 2006 Resolution had a deadline of 2016 for the member states to provide access for all women to Specialist Breast Units.
• To highlight the needs of women with advanced, or metastatic, breast cancer; about one third of women with breast cancer go on to develop metastatic disease.
• To prioritise the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer, resources for which were provided in 2011.

Miss McClarkin will be talking to other MEPs to persuade them to sign the Written Declaration when it is launched later this month at an event she is hosting on breast cancer in the European Parliament at the end of January. At the event, an art installation will be unveiled to highlight the plight of patients with advanced breast cancer, who often feel isolated from society and defined by their illness.

Created by artists Tim Wainwright and John Wynne, it aims to raise awareness of advanced breast cancer among both the breast cancer community and the wider public, as well as providing patients with a platform to step out of this ‘invisibility’, and to share their thoughts, experiences and emotions.

Miss McClarkin said:

“Having breast cancer in the family, I am more than aware of the impact of this terrible disease on patients and family. We need to do all we can to promote early detection and best treatment for those suffering from cancer, but as more and more people are living longer with advanced cancer we need to make sure we are doing all we can to help those with continued treatment and support.

“These women are hugely important to their family life and also their communities, so we must not overlook them when looking at our long-term cancer care plans.”