MeRC Pink Ribbon Day Event

Why fundraise for Pink Ribbon Day?

Every year more than 35,000 Victorians hear the words ‘you have cancer’.

Thanks in part to generous Victorians, 7 in 10 of them will survive five years after a cancer diagnosis, but there’s still so much work to be done.

Every day in Australia, around 65 women are told they have breast or a gynaecological cancer. Although one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by age 85, a woman diagnosed today has a 90% chance of surviving for at least five years. It is estimated that over 19,000 women in Australia will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. Sadly, it is estimated that almost 3000 of those women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 will die of the disease. Gynaecological cancers include ovarian, cervical, uterine, vaginal and vulvar cancer. Australia has been at the forefront of cervical cancer prevention for decades, and in 2017 a new and more effective National Cervical Screening Program was introduced. Cancer Council research helped inform these significant changes, which are expected to reduce cancer cases and deaths by 20%.