Mammogram saved woman's life

The debate on whether to introduce a national breast screening programme has been raging for years.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Maltese women - over 32 per cent of all cancers - and a statistically significant increase in the local incidence of breast cancer is being observed. Five-year survival rates for Malta do not compare favourably and remain below the European average.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent among women in Europe - responsible for 26.5 per cent of all new cancers and 17.5 per cent of cancer deaths among women. And these figures are rising due to the increasing age of the female population.

Mammography screening can detect the disease three to four years before symptoms would be noticed, dramatically improving the chances of effective treatment.

In Malta, in the run-up to the election, the breast screening programme became a political football but now women are waiting with bated breath to see whether the funds will be allocated in the upcoming budget.

Malta is one of a tiny minority of EU countries without firm time frames for screening those women at risk (Commission Report on Cancer Screening in the European Union, 2008). But it seems efforts are being made to find the resources to put this right.

Pink, distributed with tomorrow's newspaper, continues to raise awareness of the disease and the importance of screening. Its PrivateEye interview tells the story of a woman who realised she had a tumour in her breast merely a few weeks after she had had a check-up, which had showed she was clear. Little did she know that the silent killer was with her when she was dancing away on New Year's Eve and holidaying in Venice. Some instinct impelled her to book a mammogram as a simple routine check-up to confirm the gynae's results - but her impromptu decision saved her life.

Read on about her story in tomorrow's issue of Pink, which is packed with other interesting and fun reads on anything from fashion to food, health, beauty and books.

Pink is a monthly magazine, whose executive editors are The Times journalists Fiona Galea Debono and Ariadne Massa. It is published by Allied Newspapers Ltd, printed by Progress Press Ltd, produced by MediaMaker Ltd and designed by Helen Cassar Torreggiani and Joseph Schembri.