Leeds cancer survivor urges others to attend routine checks after decline in take up

Catherine Meeson, 61, from Leeds, is urging women to attend routine breast screening appointments

A WOMAN who had a shock diagnosis after a breast scan, is urging others to attend for routine screening, after a new report revealed almost 30 per cent of women do not accept the invitation.

Catherine Meeson, 61, of Hyde Park, Leeds, always used to examine her own breasts, and thought she did not need the routine check.

She said: “That mammogram probably saved my life. I always self-examined and felt quite confident that I couldn’t feel any changes, so assumed I was clear.

“I still cringe when I think about how I postponed it for a month, because I'd just started a new job.

Catherine Meeson using the healing power of horses to cope with a breast cancer diagnosis.

Catherine was called back for another examination and then diagnosed with invasive HER2-positive breast cancer.

She went on to have a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, then a course of Herceptin.

“The diagnosis was a shock. Self-examination was simply not enough. The doctors said it was certainly the mammogram that caught it in time,” she said.

The provisional Breast Screening Programme 2017/18 annual report, released by NHS Digital, shows there is a “concerning” decline in the number of women taking up the routine mammogram, with the lowest uptake rate for 11 years.

Dr Emma Pennery, clinical director of Breast Cancer Care

More than 75,000 women in Yorkshire did not attend the check, which is offered to all females registered with a GP, between the ages of 50 and 70 years, every three years.

Women who are invited for their first ever screening around the age of 50 are often the ones who do not attend, says Public England Health chief professor Anne Mackie, who admits she is “concerned” about the figures.

She said: “It is concerning that numbers have been falling, particularly among younger women invited to attend for their first screen.