Northern women fighting breast cancer received long-overdue support on Wednesday when Breast Cancer Network Australia brought its living well with breast cancer forum to town.
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After the isolation of COVID-19, the forum provided a space for people affected by breast cancer to hear from experts, seek support and share their journey with one another.
Two events were held, including a metastatic breast cancer information forum in the morning and an early breast cancer information event later in the day.
BCNA chief executive Kirsten Pilatti said about 80 people attended the sessions held at South Launceston.
She said the day's events - which included clinical and emotional discussions - were particularly important after the isolation many people in rural and remote communities had experienced during the pandemic.
"After a long wait, we are excited to be back on the road to bring our face-to-face information forums to regional and rural areas around Australia,'' she said.
"We want to give everyone, no matter where they live, the information and support they need to navigate their treatment and care."
One of those women was Latrobe resident Elizabeth Blane.
Ms Blane said her battle with cancer had been made all the more difficult after being diagnosed during the pandemic and only three months after getting married.
She said the isolation from her family in Launceston and the need to be strong for her husband and daughter had taken an emotional toll - a toll the day's events had helped address.
"It brought up a lot of things for me," she said. "I realised that I probably needed to talk to someone because I hadn't really talked to anyone about a lot of those things.
"You know the diagnosis and how I felt... I had to be strong for my partner and my daughter while going through chemo, and right smack bang in the middle of COVID - we were in lockdown.
"My mum was up here [Launceston] and I live in Latrobe, so mom couldn't come down, and it doesn't matter how old you are - when you're sick you need your mum."
Ms Pilatti said Ms Blane's story was common among many of the women she had spoken to, but also highlighted the importance and the need for renewed social connections among cancer patients.
"One of the women said to me she didn't realise she'd been keeping all this stuff below the surface and just coping," she said.
"Today is that safe space where they just have this moment to kind of reflect on themselves and be in a place with peers and say "this is tougher than I thought", and that's a really important step forward for the emotional rebuilding."
Beyond speaking to other people impacted by breast cancer, the forum included presentations from medical experts including oncologist and supportive care physician Dr Ben Forster, oncology senior social worker, Dr Carrie Lethborg, and specialist metastatic breast care nurse Jenny Gilchrist.
Ms Blane said her advice to those people diagnosed, or supporting someone with breast cancer, was to "never give up" and "always keep fighting".
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