Know more... Breast cancer

The project called Know More... Breast Cancer involved Pardubice basketball players, selected cafes and a number of experts from various fields and professions. The main idea of the project is to create a space where all information is available without a complicated search. The organiser of the project, which will culminate on 5 April with a public part in the House of Technology and on 6 April with a professional medical conference in the East Bohemian Theatre, is the Surgical Clinic of Pardubice Hospital, the authors are Jana Mergancová and Kateřina Semrádová.

At the beginning was a small regional seminar, at the end a pink one wherever you look. This is how we could briefly and with exaggeration describe the birth of the project, which started an hour before the basketball game between the Pardubice ICU and ČEZ Basketball Nymburk, i.e. on 31 March at 5 p.m. in the Dašická Sports Hall.

"I am glad that as the vice-chairman of the board of BK Pardubice I could contribute to the connection of sport - basketball with the awareness of prevention and treatment of such a serious diagnosis as breast cancer, which is the most common malignant tumour in women," says Vít Ulrych, a doctor at the Multiscan Cancer Centre and Pardubice Hospital.

"The idea of launching an entire information campaign at a sports match may seem a bit crazy at first glance, but the fact that one of the basic pillars of prevention of any disease, not only cancer, is movement explains a lot," says Jana Mergancová, one of the authors of the project and a doctor at the Pardubice Surgical Clinic.

The individual partners entered the project with a similar approach. "Bexa perceives the world in a realistic way in the long term, i.e. not only through a basketball. For this reason, we ourselves implement and are also very happy to support such projects. We perceive that they concern all of us, because you never know who will encounter what in life. It is true that awareness and information are the basic building blocks, firstly for prevention, or avoiding these things, and secondly so that people can know how to best counter them," says Pavel Stara, Chairman of the Board of BK Pardubice, a.s.

There was an information stand in front of the hall on Dašická Street and, above all, three running trainers, and the accumulated kilometres of visitors will contribute to the production of an educational video about breast cancer prevention.

Proceeds from the sports part of the Watch Your Breast event will go to the non-profit organization Bellis - young women with breast cancer. A slightly less challenging part of "Breast Watch" is the #breastatogo exhibition, which is installed in cafes in Pardubice from Saturday 31 March to Friday 6 April. The author of the "breasts in a box" idea is designer Matyáš Fuchs, who creates plaster casts of women's breasts for the Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer. Everyone can watch the breasts as part of the prevention campaign, both figuratively and literally.

The main purpose of both parts of the Watch the Breasts event is to draw the public's attention to the free information campaign, which will take place on 5 April from 14.00 to 18.00 at the House of Technology.

About the Project.

While we come across a wealth of information on the internet and in waiting rooms today, we may find ourselves unable to navigate it, fail to recognise the differences between different organisations, misunderstand medical reports, or simply be frightened by what lies ahead and collapse under the pressure. In this case, it is certainly a good idea to have someone close to us to help us. They can find basic information, recommend suitable associations, discussion forums, patient organisations... But they need to know where to find information. And that is what our information campaign should be about, the individual results of which will be available on the website www.vedet-vic.cz when it is finished.

At the House of Technology in Pardubice on 5 April, experts from the fields of medicine, law, psychology, aftercare or social care will be answering questions, either as part of a programme of lectures for the public or directly at the stand, where visitors can ask anything they can think of on the subject of breast cancer.

Among them will be our doctor Vít Ulrych, who will give a lecture on cancer treatment from 3.35 p.m. and then take part in a panel discussion together with other experts.

During the afternoon, in addition to information, visitors can also look forward to a concert by the Chanson Trio CouCou, whose singer Radka has her own experience with cancer, or to an exhibition of "Photographs with a story" by Helena Szmigielová, who this year photographed a calendar for the aforementioned Bellis project. Both Helena Szmigielová and Matyáš Fuchs will be personally present at the opening ceremony of the project at 16.00 in the foyer of the House of Technology in Pardubice.