What Kati Did Next; Time to salute the bravery of women

OCTOBER is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I’m not going to get all emotional on you, well maybe a little, but I thought it was worth us having a think about it for a second.

My nan died of breast cancer in her early seventies when I was young.

It didn’t appear to be too common then but recently two good friends of mine have experienced the trauma of the condition.

Both are in their thirties and now are thankfully well and enjoying their children more each day.

Actually, it’s amazing how common breast cancer is.

So I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the researchers, doctors, nurses, sufferers and their families who have dedicated their lives to informing us all about this terrible disease and making sure we know exactly what we should be doing to detect it.

Without them we would not even know to look for changes in our breasts, let alone know what those changes are.

This detection is essential. I urge every woman out there, of any age, to check yourself daily, and if you are over 50 get a complete check-up by the NHS. That’s what they are there for.

Until recently women have had to suffer in silence but now thousands of us turn up at venues all over the country to walk, run, jog or saunter around a course to raise money for research and treatment and often for family members lost.

One thing we do get to see during a month as potentially thought-provoking and, let’s be honest, as sad as this, is the joy of life the women who have suffered from breast cancer have.

We are enormously privileged to have women like these in our lives. I would have crumbled, but they live to shout the tale from the roof tops.

I admire and am humbled by their ability to be so open with strangers and all to share their stories and advice. If only I had half their courage.

Women need to support one another through hard times such as these. To see some as brave as this, showing us, literally, their scars, gives me faith in our kind.

We are not all vacuous and celebrity obsessed. Some of us are bigger and better than that and these women lead the way.

Thank you to them and thanks to us. Aren’t women great.