081 405 7924
BRCA SA WELCOMES YOU
Our mission is to educate, support and empower women across South Africa with information relating to the disease. Our vision is to become a national leader in breast cancer education.
ABOUT BRCA SA
We are a local, Pretoria-based Breast Cancer support group, first started in 2015. We had a long-held vision of providing support and education for women during breast cancer diagnosis, which has led to the support group.Over the years, the demand for support increased, which led to our registration as a formal NPO with the Department of Social Development and with SARS as a section 18 A tax exempt status Public Benefits Organisation.
OPENING HOURS
24hrs
SUCCESSFUL STORY OF KABELO MOKGATLHE
Kabelo Mokgatlhe never dreamt she'd become a voice for diversity in medical research. But six years after her triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis, the former finance professional has found her calling: Encouraging women of colour to take part in clinical trials.Doctors had discovered a benign cyst during Kabelo's annual mammogram in 2013. Still, Ms Mokgatlhe had no reason to think her preventative mammogram two years later would find anything concerning.
Unfortunately, the scan proved otherwise. A mass on Ms Mokgatlhe's breast turned out to be triple-negative breast cancer, a rare and aggressive cancer with high recurrence rates. Ms Mokgatlhe was only in her 50s, which is younger than the median age for women diagnosed with breast cancer. She then said the support I got from the BRCA organisation made me able to make decisions that would benefit me and my children, they gave me hope and taught me more about my diagnosis.
SUCCESSFUL STORY OF TRACIA SMITH
After Traci Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer, she knew she had to do whatever it took to become a survivor. In the time since her diagnosis, Traci is surviving, thriving and helping others on similar cancer journeys. In the four years between diagnosis and survivorship, Traci underwent 36 rounds of chemotherapy, had lymph nodes removed, received radiation treatments and had a double mastectomy.
“So I’m thinking that I’m going to have chemo, I’m gonna have my breasts taken off, bam, bam, boom, I’m getting new breasts and I’m gonna be okay,” Traci said. “And so when I was told that I have to have my breasts taken off, and then have radiation, and then wait until that heals - and that was a nine or 10-month process - that was a lot for me to digest.” Me being in the BRCA organisation gave me strength to fight and become a survivor, having to be in a group of people who were in the same shoes as mine really helped us all to feel understood and be able to help each other.
SUCCESSFUL STORY OF SHARON
When Sharon was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was hopeful and anticipated a few months of treatment and an immediate recovery. But she soon found that treatment was more challenging than she had anticipated – in addition to undergoing a mastectomy (a surgery to remove all of the breast), she had bone pain from chemotherapy, and radiation gave her blisters and burns. "Support groups helps us figure out exactly our emotions about the whole situation and help us to open up to other different treatment, my doctor suggested that I attende the group's every Tuesday with her and I don't stop even today" she said.
While her healthcare team helped her manage the physical side effects, Sharon knew that she needed emotional support – so she turned to our Cancer Information Helpline, our national, toll-free nationwide service available to people affected by cancer, caregivers, families and friends, and healthcare professionals. By phone or live chat on our website, our information specialists are available to answer questions about more than 100 types of cancer, as well as provide information about prevention, treatment and side effects, coping with cancer, emotional support services and more.
STORY OF JABULILE MASANGO
In 2014, 23-year-old Jabulile Masango was living her dream as a dancer in Gauteng Pretoria. However, in February of that year, she felt a pea-sized lump in her armpit while showering."I didn't think much of it and ignored it," she recalls. "But a month later in rehearsal, I felt a pop in my sternum during a [dancing] lift. I thought I had pulled a muscle and that it would heal." But over the next month it started to hurt and my friend from work advised me to read more about breast cancer diagnosis on a website of BRCA organisation, I'm not yet a survivor but the support that I get is way beyond.
KNOW YOUR LEMONS: BREAST CANCER INITIATIVE AT UPKATHRYN MALHERBE (DIRECTOR/FOUNDER: BREAST CANCER SUPPORT PRETORIA: LECTURER)
THE BREAST CANCER SUPPORT PRETORIA NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION (NPO) STARTED THE CANCER CARE PACKAGES CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA, FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES, DEPARTMENT OF RADIOLOGY IN 2018.
The role a radiographer plays during the diagnostic imaging and reporting of cancer is of the outmost importance as we are the representatives for the rest of the medical care the patients will receive. Radiographers specialising in breast imaging are called mammography, and they work in close proximity to breast cancer survivors, physicians and multi-disciplinary teams of the health care system.
Our Cancer Care Packages Campaign consists of products useful during radiation and chemotherapy, as well as our recently published Breast Cancer Survivorship Booklet consisting of easy-to-read information regarding the treatment process and how to communicate the results of cancer to loved ones. The NPO was started by a Radiography lecturer, Mrs Kathryn Malherbe, currently lecturing in the Faculty of Health Sciences, who hopes to encourage young students to promote breast cancer awareness in the community We also designed our own unique hope to reach these women during through outreaches that the NPO brooch and earrings in a joint our 2020 campaign. We are hosting holds across South Africa.
There were 350 cancer care packages distributed to over six regions across South Africa.
The NPO hosted 14 events during 2019.
Our Facebook (FB) Outreach reached over 75 000 women in 2019.
Over 4 500 women follow us on Facebook.
We also designed our own unique through outreaches that the NPO brooch and earrings in a joint venture with Zelmi's Boutique. The final year Radiography students will be promoting breast cancer awareness during the month of October this year. Through a student marketing drive, these earrings are sold to healthcare providers at their various clinical placements, with the funds being used for the Student Committee Board and future community engagement ventures.
Our vision for 2020We initially started our NPO with a very small dream of reaching more women across South Africa. The response was far greater than we could ever have imagined, as we now reach over 75 000 women weekly on our Facebook page, with daily interactions on posts reaching over 15 000 women. There is still a great need for support in rural villages, but we lack the infrastructure and funding to reach these areas.
We have joined forces with passionate local doctors and volunteers and hope to reach these woman during our 2020 campaign. We are hosting a small outreach to 150 villagers in final year Radiography students the outskirts of Brits on 21 March will be promoting breast cancer 2020. Our dream would be to have a mobile breast support van where we can also provide woman with basic clinical needs regarding breast cancer.
We also hope to spread our care package campaign even further in 2020, growing from our initial 350 to 1000. Trough volunteer initiatives and community engagement, we will reach this! In 2022-24 we will be hosting a events in May and August that will keep the women of South Africa aware and safe. Details of the events will be shared with everyone on our social media platforms on Friday the 19th of August 2022.
A POPULAR TOPIC IN THE LATEST BREAST CANCER RESEARCH HAS BEEN THE RELATION BETWEEN DENSE BREAST TISSUE AND THE INCREASED RISK TO DEVELOP BREAST CANCER, 5-10% TO BE EXACT. MANY WOMEN ARE TOLD DURING A MAMMOGRAM EXAMINATION THAT THEY HAVE DENSE BREAST TISSUE AND ARE AT A HIGHER RISK, BUT WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN?
On a mammogram, breast tissue is depicted as varying shades of grey. The appearance
of the breast tissue amongst women varies and is also seen as variations in the
composition on a mammogram. Fatty tissue is dark grey and known as lucent (seethrough).Connective and epithelial tissue (the glandular part of your breast) is white and known as dense.
When your doctor is referring to your ‘dense’ breast tissue, on a mammogram report,
they’re referring to the glandular (white) component seen on the image. The denser thebreast tissue, more white components are seen, and because it is so dense, it is difficult
to ‘see through it’.
Cancerous solid tumors in the breast sometimes also appear as white star-shaped
nodules, and micro-calcification (small white groups of specks) are also depicted as white
on a mammogram, so in-between all your dense breast tissue, there may be similar
dense white abnormalities hiding in-between the breast tissue, thus making it hard to
visualise the cancer. From a radiological point of view, the sensitivity rate of detecting
breast cancer in a dense breast can reduce from 97-98% to 85-87%.
Younger women have naturally denser breast tissue. This is normal and expected for their
age group, and as a woman ages, the glandular dense tissue will gradually involute
(change) to a fattier type consistency. This, however, is not true for women who are on
hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as this can cause the density of the breast to remain
the same as women age.
There are five types of breast tissue:
Type I: Most common type of breast tissue in pre-menopausal women.
Type II: Fatty type breast tissue.
Type III: Like Type II, the breast is fatty, but has a few visible ducts on the mammogram.
Type IV: See nodules and densities (moderate dense type breast tissue).
Type V: Dense breast tissue.
Normally, most women over 40 years have a common Type II breast tissue. In women
over 50 years, Type V breast tissue is less common. The prevalence (how many is seen
in a group) of breast cancer in women with Type IV-V breast tissue is more than women
with Type I-III breast tissue.
Every year we find more information about breast cancer to teach to the women and other people and we started a every year match of awareness that take places on October. The match for 2021 and 2022 will take place at Gauteng Johannesburg CBD to Braamfontein, and at North West Mafikeng CBD to Montshiwa. More information about this awareness on our Social media platforms.
FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (OCTOBER 31st, 2022)CONTACT: (BRCA SA NGO, 0814057924, sereirebaabetswe@gmail.com)Celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer awareness campaign urges women ages 40 years and older to talk with their doctors during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October about screening for breast cancer. Women who can’t afford mammograms may be eligible for free screening from a local health care provider.BRCA SA has made pap tests and mammograms accessible and free for all eligiblewomen. Whether you’re doing it for yourself or for your family, Breast Cancer Awareness Month is the perfect time to get screened. Contact your doctor today and schedule your screenings. They could save your life. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the world among females, killing more than 600 women annually. But when breast cancer is detected early, 98 percent of those diagnosed had a five-year survival. Likewise, when cervical cancer is diagnosed early, 96 percent of women had a five-year survival.The BRCA campaign offers free breast and cervical cancer screening to low-income women aged 40 to 64 years through 45 community providers state-wide. The localprovider CANSA (Cancer association) screens eligible women in the near places of Pretoria areas.“Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a good time to remind the women in our lives toget screened,” said Goitsemang Van Seray. “We are proud to work with BRCA SA campaign to offer free mammograms and pap tests to women who need them but can’t afford them.”Low income and uninsured women are less likely to have been screened for breast cancer. In 2016, only 78.3 percent of South African women over 50 whose incomes were below 50 percent of the federal poverty level reported having a mammogram in the past two years compared to 89.4 percent of women with incomes above 50 percent of the federal poverty level. This means there are approximately 92,000 lowincome women in South Africa who are not up to date with breast cancer screening. In 2016, only 46.2 percent of uninsured women over 50 reported having a mammogram in the past two years compared to 73.2 percent of women who are insured. This means there are approximately 22,500 uninsured women in South Africa who are not up to date with breast cancer screening. According to the health department’s Central Cancer Registry, 73 percent of the 4,800 breast cancers diagnosed each year in Africa are detected early, with lower early detection rates for Coloured, Black and uninsured women. If cancer is detected while enrolled in the program, treatment resources are made available.The Youtube link below it is a video of interviews that were taken with the donors and beneficiaries of the NGO: https://youtube.com/channel/UCG8wVMyR1NOs3oCr133ysbg
ABOUT BRCA SA ANNUAL EVENTS
- February 20th, 2022Welcoming new members of the organisation. - June 3rd, 2022Celebrating the survivors of breast cancer.- October 31st, 2022 Celebrating the breast cancer awareness month.- December 15th, 2022Closing of the NGO and the year.
ABOUT BRCA SA HIV/AIDS POLICY
Our Background
1. Scope This policy applies to everyone who is part of the BRCA SA. 2. Objectives The objectives of this policy is to ensure that all employees of the NGO are informed about HIV/AIDS. As we as to detail the steps that will be taken to protect both the NGO and it's stakeholders. - promoting an environment in which people living with Aids are treated fairly.- developing proactive guidelines._ implementing HIV/AIDS awareness programmes aimed at providing support and education. 3. ResponsibilityThis policy is the responsibility of all managers and supervisors, as is the continued dissemination of information about HIV/AIDS to all employees. It is however the responsibility of stakeholders to take appropriate action on being informed about HIV/AIDS to protect themselves and their families, a seek counseling in cost of uncertainty. 4. Basic Information about HIV/AIDS - what is HIV? Aids is a diseases that affects millions of South Africans. It is caused by a virus called HIV which stand for human immune deficiency virus. This virus slowly weakens a person's ability to fight off disease by attaching itself and destroying important cells that control and support the human immune system. After a person is infected with HIV, they although infectious to others look and feel fine for many years before AIDS is developed. - HIV cause AIDS: the avarage period between getting infected with HIV and developing AIDS is 7 to 9 years in the absences if treatment. AIDS is an abbreviation of Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which is a term to describe a set of opportunist infections and cancers, which would not be life- threatening. If HIV had not destroyed the body's immune system in the first place. - transmission and factors fuelling the epidemic: there is very little chance of HIV being transmitted in the workplace. In order for a person to be infected is if he/she do the following: • unprotected sex with someone who is infected. • from an infected mother to her child (during pregnancy).• unsafe contact with infected blood and the bleeding wounds of an infected person. - Treatment: there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, yet; however, there are major advances in medical treatment. Antiviral drug combination are available, which when properly used an significantly prolonged survival of people living with HIV. - Principles: we should always follow the principles 9f NGO and do we they say. Being provided with information of Aids awareness and establishing a resivor of information.