Segamat.com

Breast Cancer Support Society (BCSS) Segamat held a breast cancer awareness forum at the Kg Abdullah multipurpose hall yesterday. It was attended by over 200 people.

There were a variety of activities going on whilst the main speakers gave talks. There were health screenings to check blood pressure, height, weight, BMI and pap smear by medical staff from Pej. Kesihatan Segamat. Free gluco tests were given to participants by Pathlab.

The crowd was a good mix of malay and chinese Segamat residents. There was also a large group of student nurses from Segamat Hostpital.

Cik Habiba Rahman (Facilitator Makna Outreach Programme) gave a very enthusiastic and useful talk on breast cancer despite the sometimes noisy crowd. She talked about how to care for your body especially on diet, exercise and stress management both before and after getting cancer. I found out that cucumber has very little nutrition, consisting of mainly water!

After the talk, there was an exercise session led by a BCSS member. This got the crowd moving. 

During the Caring and Sharing session, a few members of BCSS gave short talk of their experiences (one in Malay and two in mandarin). Basically it was about how they were leading 'normal' lives and then one day they found out they had breast cancer. They described their fear, anxiety, disbelief and depression during the early days.

When they were introduced to BCSS, they talked about how surprised they were that there were others going through the same illness but were cheerful and able to cope. They felt so relieved to share their feelings with fellow survivors and get emotional support from the group. They advised that despite having breast cancer, it was still possible to lead useful and normal lifes by being positive, eating healthy and active. It was very emotional and inspiring to hear their stories.

Later Prof Dr Swamenathan (HOD Psychiatry & Deputy Dean, Melaka-Manipal Medical College) gave a talk in Malay on mental health, focusing on stress management. He was a very good speaker, mixing in humour to keep the attention of the crowd and make the subject interesting. He basically pointed out that our stress comes from how we think about a difficult situation. If we can manage our thoughts, we can reduce our stress levels.

Lunch was provided to everyone.