GHA evening talks for Breast Cancer awareness month Miss Christina Macano, Consultant General Surgeon Specialising in Breast and UGI and the GHA’s Lead in Breast Cancer Services organised an evening presentation to raise public awareness about Breast Cancer. This event took place on Thursday 7th October 2021 at the Sunborn Hotel and was opened by the Minister for Health and Care, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP.
Speakers included Miss Macano, who launched the evening talks with an Introduction into Breast Cancer, what Symptoms/Signs to watch out for and improvements in survival following a diagnosis of Breast Cancer.
Dr Bronwen James, GHA Palliative Care Doctor and Ms Nicole Pizarro, Palliative Care Nurse Specialist then delivered a presentation on the benefits of Palliative Care Services and improving the quality of life of patients, and that of their families. Dr David Ballesteros, GHA Consultant Oncologist and Clinical Director of Cancer Services gave an overall insight into systematic treatments for Breast Cancer, which was then followed by a presentation by Dr Alvaro Flores Sanchez on Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer; past, present and future. The final presentation was delivered by Dr Terri McVeigh, the GHA’s Visiting Consultant Cancer Geneticist from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who gave an outline on what genetic and non-genetic risk factors for breast cancer are and what types of genetic alterations are harmful. Miss Christina Macano said, “I am really grateful to the Minister for Health and her team for the opportunity provided this evening. I am delighted to be able to communicate with the public and be able to repudiate the myths surrounding breast cancer, treatments and survival. I am honoured to be working with a group of outstanding Health Care providers all willing to be here this evening in order to present and explain advances in Breast Cancer care and alleviate fears. This is especially important when dealing with concerns related to Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, Palliative care and the Genetics involved with Hereditary Breast Cancers.” The Minister for Health, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP, said: “We are privileged in Gibraltar to have such a professional and dedicated team and the high level of that work, individually and as a team is extremely reassuring. We were very privileged to have cancer survivors join us at the event and it was very important that a wide cross section of the community attended to learn. In order tosucceed, it is important for everyone to work together as a community and I am also grateful to the charities who also supported the event. Presentations such as these are an important and powerful platform in an effort to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of breast cancer through education on symptoms and treatment. I wish to express my gratitude to the superb GHA team and of course its leader Miss Macano who has made such notable improvements”.
