Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer amongst women in Australia. For the last 3 years, LSKD has been supporting the cause, raising almost $100,000 by donating 5 per cent of sales from their breast cancer range to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Following the release of the ‘Don’t Wait’ mental health documentary that touched so many, LSKD has released its second documentary ‘We Rise’ with an aim to raise awareness of breast cancer this October.
All LSKD creative is shot and produced by its own internal marketing team, and features its own staff and athletes, as well as ambassadors of the National Breast Cancer Foundation as talent.
The documentary shares the experiences of Bianca Kennedy, Jarrod and Thomas Berry, and Tarah Hastie after losing a loved one to breast cancer or being diagnosed themselves.
Not understanding the severity or impacts of what she had just been told, 11-year-old Bianca Kennedy had no idea what was coming or what was about to happen.
“I remember Mum sat me down one day and asked if I knew who Delta Goodrem was and if I remembered how she lost all of her hair,” Bianca said.
“She told me that was about to happen to mummy, and that she just was going to be sick for a little while and then everything was going to be ok.”
14 months later Bianca’s mother was just 37 years old when she lost her battle to breast cancer. She showed an incredible amount of strength outliving her diagnosis of 3 weeks to 14 months, but Bianca says it could have been so different if she got checked sooner.
“If my mum had been able to detect this earlier, then who knows what could have happened, and we could have been living a very different life right now and I actually think about that all the time,” Bianca said.
“I think it is so important for women to take it into their own hands to ensure that they are getting checked.”
Still sitting very clear in his mind, Jarrod Berry was only 13 years old when he and his brother Thomas (11 years old) were told they had lost their mother to breast cancer.
“I was at school when my name got called over the PA system,” Thomas said.
“My brother and I jumped in the car with dad, and when we got home, dad burst into tears, and that’s when we knew what had happened.”
“We grew up really quickly after losing mum and became quite accountable for each other and looked after each other through a period when we didn’t have a mother.”
Stressing the importance of getting checked, Thomas says it’s something that doesn’t discriminate on age or health and can affect anyone.
“Potentially if we got this thing that happened to mum early, she might be still here, or she might have been around a bit longer,” Thomas said.
“You only have one body, one mind, so make sure to look after them.”
Tarah Hastie was diagnosed with breast cancer at 27 years old, and as far as she knew, most women diagnosed were in their forties, fifty’s or older.
“I never expected to get breast cancer, so to have my results come back and be told I had breast cancer was definitely a shock and changed the course of my life,” Hastie said.
“The biggest impact for me was whether I’d see my son grow up and if he would remember me only being only 18 months old at the time,
“It was really hard to think about the fact that I would potentially not get to see my son grow up, and he might not remember me.”
Winning her battle with breast cancer, Hastie is now 12 years in remission and loves that she is able to give hope to others that they can defy the odds and win their battle too.
“I wish that I’d known that breast cancer can happen to anyone who has breast tissue, that it can happen to you in your twenties, that it can happen to men, and that I had someone that I could have looked to, to give me hope,” Hastie said.
“I love that I can talk to anyone about my experience and be connected with them on something that is a really terrible thing, and that they can look at me and know that their future is bright.”
LSKD, visual production lead, Elliott Sauvage, said: “It was such a humbling experience having the opportunity to tell the stories of these four individuals of their experiences with breast cancer. As a team this cause is quite close to our hearts, so this year, we wanted to dig a little deeper and share more of the effect that breast cancer has on so many different people. Sharing how different these stories are shows that no two stories are the same; and how this disease simply does not discriminate.
“If you take away only one thing from this video, make sure it’s to understand your body and know when something is not right. Check yourself, see a doctor, and be aware of changes. As Bianca said in the documentary; ‘It’d be so much better to know about it than it be too late… and then it be too late.'”
LSKD, head of content, Matt Kirby, said: “As a brand it’s our mission to inspire you to be 1 per cent better every day. Our goal with this project is to create awareness around the effects of Breast Cancer and how important it is to check yourself regularly. It’s the small things we do everyday that create big change, so please like, share and comment to help spread the word.”
