By Emilie Ng
BREAST cancer survivor Margaret Lungo couldn’t help smiling after her first mammogram at a new breast health centre in Chermside last month.
The Maltese-born mum from Brighton is not new to breast health checks, as she has undergone one a year since being diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago.
Holy Spirit Northside Private Hospital’s new Breast Health Centre was the first clinic where Mrs Lungo “felt at home” in what is normally a painful and stressful session.
She and her daughter Sandra Lungo were among the first patients to walk through the northside’s first private centre to detect breast cancer.
The younger Lungo has been by her mother’s side through every breast check-up and was confident Holy Spirit Hospital’s new centre was the best in Brisbane.
The 50-year-old said there was “no excuse” for women on Brisbane’s north anymore.
“It’s one hour every twelve moths, and we women should make the commitment to come and have it checked; get that early detection,” Mrs Lungo said.
About 2900 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Queensland each year.
After moving from Melbourne to Brisbane 10 years ago, Mrs Lungo, 76, contacted a doctor after feeling unwell.
Two weeks later she underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from her breast, despite having had the all-clear from a mammogram three months prior.
She is hopeful the Breast Health Centre will continue to detect any future signs of breast cancer.
Both Lungos attended the official blessing and opening of the Breast Health Centre on April 24. Archbishop Mark Coleridge blessed the centre and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Queensland Health Minister Cameron Dick opened it.
Holy Spirit Northside’s general manager Daniele Doyle has made it her mission to help all vulnerable patients combat the disease as she had recently experienced breast cancer firsthand.
“I felt very vulnerable particularly because I knew a lot about it, being in the health industry,” Ms Doyle said.
“As senior executive of the hospital, it was very important for us to have a patient-centred focus, to make sure the environment and the aesthetics of the breast health centre environment was conducive to calm because it is a very anxious and vulnerable time for women and men.”
