Hello! I hope you all are well 😊

Last week was cervical cancer awareness week (20^th to 26^th January 2020) and we’ve been busy raising awareness and money for this important cause. To also help Mother’s in the area surrounding Shaftesbury, we are also offering free 1-hour childcare services so there is no excuse not to book your smear tests! You can book your free session by contacting me. Cervical cancer is preventable, we just need more women booking their smears and potentially saving their lives. According to WHO (World Health Organisation) cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in women, early treatment and diagnosis can significantly improve survival rates. It is so easy to put off booking your smear tests, I should know I’ve been there. My husband and I have moved several times over the last 5 years and also lived in Mumbai for 2 years, so going for my smear test wasn’t even on my radar. We all get so caught up with life, work, travelling that it is so easy to prioritise other things but, is everything else so important? For a 5 min check (which can be uncomfortable, painful and does put women off) that could potentially save your life?

My goal for last week was raising as much awareness that I can, for mothers who have no childcare options to have a solution and they can feel comfortable leaving their child with me while they go for their smear test. I’ve had responses from lots of people who have said because of this campaign they’ve booked their tests; I also really hope those without children have also been encouraged to go and book their smear tests. What originally made me go to my appointment was when I started thinking of having a child and receiving a letter around the same time asking me if I booked my smear test. I honestly didn’t know much about smear tests and how important they are. When I got my results back they were not great, I had to go for further tests but, thankfully I went in time and was treated. This sadly isn’t the case for every woman, you may also get your results back and you are completely fine! I will be attaching links below to articles that help give you more information about cervical cancer as I am no expect.

Along with selling children’s books, toys and so forth I also spent the previous evening cooking lots of Indian treats for parents to try! The pakoras (onion bhajis) and poha were definite popular, it was lovely to see support from the local community and women sharing their own experiences. We raised a total of £55 though the event and through online support. To help raise publicity for the event we were also interviews by Kerri Jones from Alfred news, you can listen to the interviews by clicking on the links below. I truly hope to do this campaign annually, working with the community and sharing my own story has been great and if I have helped in anyway for someone to attend their smear test that means the world to me. Over the next few months I will be working on ways to offer a lot more in supporting mothers attending their smear test appointments. If you are due for a check-up or have been putting it off, please go book yours ASAP, it may save your life!!

So, going back to the event, we teamed up with the lovely Kat Bromley from Mini muggles (who is also offering 1 hour free childcare to mothers!) to hold a fundraiser at her stay and play which went really well. Kat holds her stay and play every Thursday from 9 to 10:30 at Lindlar hall, Shaftesbury. Please pop in if you get a chance ☺️ it’s a great place to meet other parents while your child/children enjoy the activities on offer!

Working in Childcare for over 10 years I have been surrounded by women, and not once did I hear anyone talk about attending smear tests which is kind of crazy!! It also makes me think how many women are there who in this day and age still have no idea about the importance of smear tests? We need to encourage more women not to be so afraid of going to their appointments by sharing our own experiences and being supportive of one another. The next time you meet a friend or see a family member, ask them if they have been for their smear test lately? You may be surprised at the answer. But if we can get more women talking it will hopefully leave an impact and save someone’s life 🙂

Please leave a comment on your thoughts about smear tests, what do you think could be done further to encourage women to go? I will be back soon with a blog about love, PSE and why I think childminders are so important seeing as February is fast approaching…

Love,

Sammi