Dubbo breast cancer survivor and campaigner, Donna Falconer, travelled to town in her ‘Groovy Booby Bus’ on Wednesday to speak at a Rotary Club meeting in Forbes.
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The mum-of-three was diagnosed with Grade 2, Stage 3 breast cancer in 2009, at the age of 44.
After a chance conversation about mammography services in Dubbo, Donna had contacted a local Breastscreen promotion officer who told her on any given day, in a city the size of Dubbo, 60 women were walking around with breast cancer and didn’t know it.
The statistics baffled Donna, who then rounded up all the girls in her local community newspaper office. Donna’s results came back positive.
Now, at the age of 52, Donna is putting her all into raising awareness for the cancer that kills 3000 women each year.
She has sold her house and moved back in with her parents to fund the purchase of her RV known as the ‘Groovy Booby Bus’.
“I quit my job, threw caution to the wind, and decided to take a ‘gap year’. I just had this dream that I would buy this bus and travel round Australia,” she said.
“It’s so much fun and so uplifting. It’s just something that I am meant to do.
“I’ll be taking to the roads to continue to raise awareness and support for breast screening and those on the breast cancer road. It’s all about the importance of early diagnosis and starting that conversation ‘have you been screened’?” she said. In 2017, 17,500 Australian women and 150 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer.