Saturday, 8 May 2021, 3:28 pmPress Release: Cure Our Ovarian Cancer
An international campaign featuring New Zealanders to
raise awareness of ovarian cancer will appear on billboards
in Piccadilly Circus and Times Square today. With the
tagline An ad you cant miss, for a cancer you do
marks World Ovarian Cancer Day, 8 May.
The campaign
creative, donated by Creative and Digital agency Topham
Guerin, and organised by New Zealander Jane Ludemann
features more than thirty real women (including four New
Zealanders), all diagnosed with a variant of ovarian cancer
called low grade serous (LGS.
Jane, who is among the
group said that low grade doesnt imply good
outcomes.
These women are frequently
young, and fewer than half will be alive nine years after
diagnosis. Its a difficult reality to be faced with. But
instead of living their lives in fear the women are
speaking out in the hope their efforts will help more people
survive.
Aucklander Erin Bassett took
over a year to be diagnosed with LGS ovarian cancer in May
2020. She was 35 years old. Initially her symptoms were put
down to irritable bowel syndrome and despite significant
pain she was told she needed to eat more All Bran. She
participated in the billboard campaign because she wants
people to know to trust yourself and trust your instincts
and keep going with those second opinions and not be
embarrassed.
Dunedin woman Jane, founded global
charity Cure Our Ovarian Cancer (COOC), and local arm
Ovarian Cancer New Zealand after her diagnosis with LGS
ovarian cancer at 32 years old. She says our message is
simple. We want women of all ages to be aware of the subtle
symptoms of ovarian cancer which can easily be missed and
dismissed. And we want research so women with ovarian cancer
live longer.
It speaks to the urgency of the
situation that women with LGS cancer have gone to such
extremes to be heard. But in New Zealand all women with
ovarian cancer are struggling. The government hasnt
funded any ovarian cancer research in over four years and
our overall ovarian cancer survival lags behind
Australia.
Jane hopes that the campaigns efforts
will draw attention, not only to LGS ovarian cancer
globally, but to the dire straits of all ovarian cancer in
New Zealand. The New Zealanders participated in the hope of
raising donations for Ovarian Cancer New Zealand (ovariancancer.org.nz)
to support awareness, advocacy and
research.
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