The Long Ride

As Asia modernizes rapidly, breast cancer is expected to increase in incidence with larger numbers of women being diagnosed with breast cancer each year. Some of the contributing factors are the changes in reproductive patterns with women having fewer children, reduced breast feeding and later age at child births as well as other lifestyle changes.

Evidence has also shown many breast cancers to be familial and hereditary. The multi-factorial causation makes this a difficult disease to tackle and emphasizes the importance of advanced research to improve current understanding of the disease. The explosion of breast cancer is further complicated with myriad challenges, including low awareness, limited resources and poor access to care in many Asian countries. 

While breast cancer is a worldwide issue, the solutions to early diagnosis and treatment are as varied as the peoples and their cultures.  An important part of the solution is to understand how different practices approach this global problem.

Two of NUHS’ finest breast surgeons will motorbike from Singapore to Sweden in March 2014, visiting cancer centers and hospitals in multiple countries en route. This official, four-month mission will take the team across 22 countries and about 40,000 kilometres. The team aims to raise awareness for breast cancer by conducting lectures, surgical demonstrations and participating in forums with collaborating institutions.

These collaborations will facilitate the establishment of a network of cancer centers across Asia and Eastern Europe where genetic studies and gene arrays with multiple ethnic groups can be conducted. The cancer genes in each region will be different and this new scientific knowledge will help enhance therapies of cancer treatments.

We also aim to study, along with anthropologists and social work specialists, the socio-cultural influences on breast cancer and related health seeking behavior. The varied beliefs regarding breast cancer across Asian societies have harmful impacts such as late presentation and lack of acceptance of treatment options; resulting in too many lives lost too early. In the face of such dire circumstances we feel compelled to spotlight the barriers and help bring about policy changes, establish awareness programs and improve access to care through our efforts.

Without funding, these research ideas will never become reality. High-quality research is essential to deepen our understanding of breast cancer, in order to improve treatment and to identify solutions with one ultimate goal – to save lives.

We hope the ride will be a modest testimony to the extraordinary courage we see on a daily basis in our patients as they go through the phases of breast cancer screening, treatment and survivorship.  While our difficulties in the planning and running of this mission end with our destination, their struggles continue, and we hope that providing a research fund to help understand their disease will be an enterprise that you will want to participate in.