On 29 April, Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) launched our first virtual conference: Living the Best Life you Can with Breast Cancer. With more than 2,300 registrations, our four-hour event highlighted what it means to live the best life you can during and after a breast cancer experience, including what services are available to support your physical and emotional wellbeing and how to be your best advocate when it comes to your own care.
Our interactive panels saw breast cancer survivors, subject matter experts including a psychiatrist, psychologist, and Breast Care Nurses come together to answer live attendee questions, provide interactive support during our live Zoom breakout rooms, and create a safe place to communicate with our attendees.
With over 80 questions, live interactive polls, a 45-minute question and answer session, and multiple Zoom breakout rooms, the feedback we received highlighted a common theme: how much attendees enjoyed the sense of connection the conference fostered. We heard that members felt they were ‘not alone in these conferences’ or their breast cancer journeys more broadly, and that BCNA continues to be a source of information providing ‘great tips for individualising treatment goals and needs’.
Attendees also reported feeling the evening empowered them to participate actively in their care, including that ‘it was quite pertinent to hear you are the owner of your care and can be empowered’ but also that the conference ‘empowered me to find out what I do not know about my diagnosis’.
We were excited to also launch our My Journey in-built symptom tracker and downloadable app at the conference. The symptom tracker has been designed, with the help of people who are going through and have been through breast cancer, to support users in recording the physical and emotional symptoms of a diagnosis. Learn more about the updates, or sign up to My Journey.
One My Journey user and conference attendee noted that ‘My Journey has helped me understand my breast cancer and helped me deal with symptoms. BCNA are in my home via my computer, this is comfort.’
If you weren’t able to attend the conference on the night, you can access the recording.
We are also currently in the process of launching the remainder of our 2021 calendar, however, look forward to hosting our next virtual conferences in July and August. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook and check our website for all upcoming dates and registration details.