‘Friendly reminder to make use of the free mammograms’: BreastScreen WA brings mammogram mobile to Manjimup

Local MLA Jane Kelsbie has shared her very personal journey with cancer in a bid to persuade women to take advantage of a local visit from a mobile breast-screening van. The van is currently at the Manjimup Indoor Sports Pavilion until the end of September, set to move to other towns within the Warren-Blackwood area for the remainder of 2023. Member for Warren-Blackwood Ms Kelsbie’s lost her mother to breast cancer 23 years ago and she said the value of early detection could not be overstated. “I know all too well the impacts of ‘the C-Word’ — cancer,” she said. “My mum was 51 when she died.” Ms Kelsbie also said her own scare with a lump meant she took having a yearly check-up seriously and recommended others to do the same. “About two months before my mum died, I found a lump in my left breast. Mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy followed. “A few months after she passed away, I had surgery to remove the lump. Lucky for me it was benign. “Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in WA and every year, around 1500 women in WA are told the news they have been diagnosed with it.” A mammogram can detect 70-90 per cent of breast cancers. Ms Kelsbie said the screening was free to women with no breast cancer symptoms every two years and to make the most of the free mammograms. “I still miss my mum. This is my friendly reminder to all women, especially those aged 40 up, to make use of the free BreastScreen WA screening mammograms. Free to women with no breast cancer symptoms every two years,” she said. “BreastScreen WA provides over 120,000 screening mammograms each year to Western Australian women.” The van’s next stop is Bridgetown, at the Town Square near the Train Station, between September 27 and November 9 and then Boyup Brook, at the Shire Hall car park on Abel Street, from November 10 to November 23.