Hundreds turn out to popular pink walk

Jonathan and Rebecca Woodhead with Isabelle, 16 months, enjoy taking part in this year's Papamoa Beach Pink Walk.

Boys in pink tutus, dogs wearing pink scarves and a horse donned in pink leg warmers joined hundreds of people in an annual pledge of support for one of Tauranga's most needed charities.

The Papamoa Pink Beach Walk was held yesterday to raise money and awareness for the Tauranga Breast Cancer Support Service.

Walkers of all shapes and sizes, including Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller in a pink Hawaiian lei, gathered en masse at Papamoa Domain.

Hundreds of locals took part in the Papamoa Beach Pink Walk over the weekend.

Breast Cancer Support Services Tauranga manager Lea Lehndorf said the walk was made special because it was started by Papamoa woman Richelle le Roy and her mother Carol, both of whom have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

"They both understand what this is all about."

Both women cut a pink ribbon to mark the beginning of the walk.

"That was really special," Mrs Lehndorf said.

About 200 women in the Bay are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and one or two men.

Rebecca Woodhead said the walk had personal significance for her husband Jonathan and daughter Isabelle, 16 months, who was dressed in a candyfloss fairy dress.

"Johnny's grandmother had breast cancer. We just wanted to give a donation and we wanted to come down and support the cause. Having cancer in the family and meeting local people and making friends, it makes it very special," Mrs Woodhead said.

Poppy Crouch, who took part in the walk with daughter Lily Crouch, 7, and Bella the dog, said they wanted to support the charity and had also done so last year.

"It's just a nice walk to support the charity, walking with everyone on such a beautiful day."

All donations collected at yesterday's event stay in the local area to support people diagnosed within the Tauranga community.

The youngest person to have used Tauranga's Breast Cancer Support Services was 24 and the oldest 93.

One in nine women in New Zealand will develop breast cancer in their lifetime and most of them will be over 50.

The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation says breast is highly treatable if caught early.

Breast cancer staging

Cancer staging provides an assessment of how widespread a cancer is in the body and is determined by the size of the tumour, the extent to which cancer cells have moved into surrounding tissue, the number of lymph nodes affected and if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Breast cancer stages span stage 1 to stage 4:

Stage 1 - This includes tumours that are small (up to 2cm wide) and have not spread to nearby lymph nodes (the ones in the armpit - called axillary nodes).

Stage 2 - This includes several types of tumours:

* small ones (up to 2cm) that have spread to axillary lymph nodes
* tumours that are between 2cm and 5cm, that have or haven't spread to axillary nodes
* larger tumours (more than 5cm) that have not spread into axillary lymph nodes.

Stage 3 - This includes:

* tumours larger than 5cm that have spread to axillary lymph nodes
* tumours of any size that have spread to axillary nodes, and where the nodes have become attached to one another
* tumours of any size that have spread to lymph nodes along the breast bone and above or below the collar bone
* tumours of any size that have spread to the skin or chest wall; these tumours may or may not have spread to axillary lymph nodes.Stage 4 - This includes a breast tumour of any size that has spread to other parts of the body, including the skin or lymph nodes above the collar bone. www.cancerinfo.co.nz