Dr Annette Lasham: UoA cancer researcher on the relief efforts designed to raise money for breast cancer research

Each year in New Zealand, about 3600 people are diagnosed with breast cancer.

Currently, there is no cure for the disease that affects one in nine women across their lifetime and, on average, 25 Kiwi men per year.

As part of their latest fundraising effort, Breast Cancer Cure has launched the Tees for a Cure campaign - recruiting 17 popular Kiwi designers to utilise their skills for the cause.

UoA cancer researcher Dr Annette Lasham says everybody involved is so committed to making a difference.

"The designers are there - everybody is so committed to giving up their time and trying to make a difference for breast cancer."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSTB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, with the Sunday Session. It is seventeen to ten.
Each year in New Zealand, around three thousand, six hundred
people are diagnosed with breast cancer. The disease doesn't discriminate.
It impacts one and nine Kiwi women across their lifetime
and on average effects twenty five Kiwi men per year. Currently,
there is no cure, but Breast Cancer Cure was established
as a charitable trust to exclusively support research aimed at

(00:36):
finding a cure for breast cancer and this year's seventeen
incredible Kiwi designers have joined force with Breast Cancer Cure
to create a range of T shirts to raise money
for the vital research in New Zealand. The ambitious target
is to sell three thousand, six hundred of these shirts.
Breast Cancer research professor and Net Lasham is with me

(00:56):
now to talk about this good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
A net Good morning.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Breast cancer can and should be survivable. What kind of
work does breast can secure do.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
It? Does? It supports and research into our unique New
Zealand population, which is incredibly important because we really can't
rely on international data to actually guide us on what's
the best way to treat our women diagnosed with breast

(01:30):
cancer in New Zealand. So the Breast Cancer Cure are wonderful.
I think you touched on that such a main point
there when you said that they exclusively fund breast cancer
research in New Zealand, which is phenomenal really because I
think most people are unaware that for many of us

(01:52):
that work on breast cancer research in New Zealand, we
are not funded by our universities. We actually need to
seek funding from the government or from funding bodies to
enable us to do this really important work. And so
the Breast Cancer Cure ensure that anything that we propose

(02:15):
to do is thoroughly vetted so that their money is
wisely spent. And it works on many projects, including some
of our own, such as as detected through screening, although
its detected when a woman presents with symptoms mainly to

(02:37):
her GP, looking at the costs of the costs and
benefits of reducing the screening age to forty years, for example,
looking at integrating AI to enable women to become more

(02:57):
informed about personalized screening that they might require, to allow
earlier detection of breast cancer. And that's just a few
And Ni.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
It tell us about the campaign Teas for a Cure.
This is as much about awareness as it is about fundraising,
isn't it.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
It is absolutely and I mean I think it's I
think it's absolutely wonderful. I've been to some of the
shoots and I can't believe all the people there and
the energy the designers are there. Everybody is so committed

(03:38):
to giving up their time and to try to make
a difference for breast cancer detected in Altero and New Zealand.
And so this campaign, I think it's wonderful that it's
actually going to be aimed at selling one T shirt

(03:59):
for every woman that's diagnosed with breast cancer every year,
and I hope it's a lot more than that. And
you know, it's wonderful that the designers all designed something
bespoke for their these Teas for a Cure rounds that
they have, which are twice a year to actually try

(04:19):
to raise money for all of us.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yes, and yet who's involved in the campaign. Who are
some of the designers.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Some of the designers are Karen Wilson, Karen Walker to
release Cooper Federation Storm Tuesday, even Barnetti Stella and Gemma
Repertoire nom d Mouci nine Federation Curate. I mean, it's

(04:52):
just isn't that absolutely, absolutely, absolutely amazing.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
The funds raised through this particular campaign. Will they go
towards the things that you were already talking about or
is there something specific in mind?

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Well, every it's interesting you ask that because every year
we have to put in a proposal to say this
is the kind of research we're really keen on doing.
And as I said, you know this applies to probably
an awful lot of us doing beast cancer by medical research. Well,

(05:30):
actually it's not just biomedical research. It's also population health research.
And when I mean that, I mean, you know the
difference between doing stuff in the lab, doing stuff that
might be you know, want to talk about in the lab,
I mean maybe developing new drugs or new new detection
methods or things like that, versus things that can be

(05:52):
looking at patients' opinions or patients treatment journeys to things
that we can do to better their outcome if they
do have breast cancer diagnosis. There's a real wide breadth
of the type of projects that are applying for funding.

(06:14):
Each funding round, which is later in the year, tends
to be about October time, and so the more the
more money that Breast can secure can raise, the more
projects can fund.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
And Nick, thank you so much for your time this morning,
really appreciate it. You can get the teas for a
Cure from breastcancercure dot org dot z.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudken, listen
live to news talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
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