October might be breast cancer awareness month but you can support the charities throughout the year. Women & Golf reports on the ladies making a difference.
October might be breast cancer awareness month but you can support the charities throughout the year. Women & Golf reports on the ladies making a difference.
Few of us are lucky enough not to have known someone who has suffered from breast cancer. The most common cancer in the United Kingdom, with 50,000 women diagnosed every year, breast cancer still claims 11,500 lives annually. Thanks to pioneering research however, including that conducted from leading charity Breast Cancer Now, more women are surviving than ever before.
Sharon Parker, now 56, had her world turned upside down five years ago when she was diagnosed with oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Considering herself to be fit and healthy, the keen golfer from Chesterfield had no idea that the mammogram, which she was invited to attend following her 50th birthday, would be anything but routine. The news that she had a lump in a breast consequently came as a huge shock and in the following months she was forced to undergo a lymphadenectomy, before undertaking a course of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy.
Describing the process as mind-numbing, Parker, who is now in remission, considers herself to be one of the lucky ones. As with many women golfers, she saw cancer’s darkest facets first-hand after witnessing the tremendous suffering faced by a fellow member of her golf club, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and explains valiantly that the experience was in her thoughts throughout her own ordeal.
As an avid golfer, Parker describes the sport as a form of therapy, and despite her illness was lucky enough to be able to carry on playing throughout her treatment. There were, in fact, times when she and her husband managed to drive straight from the hospital to the golf course, and the couple would always ensure the clubs were in the boot of the car in case she felt well enough to get in a few holes.
Perhaps surprisingly, she actually played some of her best rounds during this period, and as a result was able to, at least partly, take her mind off the cancer. Would she suggest other cancer suffers continue with the game during and after treatment?
“Give it a go. Golf is such a gentle sport that it can be played in some form even while immunocompromised. Of course you must take it gently and listen to your body, but if you feel well enough it can be a very relaxing therapy.’’
Always eager to feel the health benefits of the game, Parker had always insisted on taking a pull trolley but was encouraged by her husband to switch to electric and would encourage anyone in a similar position to take it carefully and do likewise.
Since being given the all-clear, Parker has been busy fundraising at her local golf club, Tapton Park in Derbyshire. Now in its fith year, the club organises an annual golf day, in aid of Breast Cancer Now, which sees over 100 participates from across the region take part.
With this year’s event to be held on 7 October, Sharon is hoping to hit the £7,000 mark, a sum which she hopes will one day help towards finding a cure for Breast Cancer.
A group of ladies residing in Spain have also taken matters into their own hands by organising a number of events in aid of Breast Cancer Now, including an annual charity golf day which took place in July. The S’port Pink Ladies (the apostrophe signifies the breast cancer ribbon in the society’s logo) took to the North Course at La Manga Club in Murcia dressed in pink, to show their support for the charity, and raised an incredible 10,500 euros in the process.
It’s safe to say the ladies had a blast, with prizes, which had kindly been donated, awarded for best-dressed golf buggy and best-dressed golfer, as well as golfing prowess. The event is just the first in a series of sporting activities organised by the S’port Pink Ladies, who have been raising funds for the Breast Cancer charity for the past three years, with a cricket tournament and fun run among the events which are taking place this October.
There are many ways that you too can help support this fantastic cause, with even the smallest acts capable of making a difference. But for those thinking a little bigger, you might want to choose Breast Cancer Now as the club’s charity of the year, organising a coffee morning, a Lady Captain’s day raffle, or a separate competition that also gives ladies the opportunity to dress up!
Breast Cancer Now believes that by 2050 breast cancer will have taken its last life – but only if we all act now. Visit: www.breastcancernow.org
The above is an extract from the November/December 2016 issue of Women & Golf magazine, on sale now. Never miss an issue, click here to subscribe and enjoy W&G delivered to your door.
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