A BBC journalist who filmed her emotional journey battling breast cancer is among the keynote speakers at a pioneering event in the Midlands.<\/p>\n
Wolverhampton-born Satnam Rana, who is the arts and culture correspondent at BBC Midlands Today, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.<\/p>\n
From her diagnosis and throughout her surgery to have a mastectomy and reconstruction, the 42-year-old made a video diary to encourage other women to check themselves for signs of breast cancer and help save lives.<\/p>\n
The mum-of-one will further share her experiences as one of the inspirational speakers who has been lined-up to speak at the Being Well Festival at Coventry\u2019s Ricoh Arena.<\/p>\n
The event aims to promote happier, healthier lives by educating people about their health and general wellness on Thursday, October 24.<\/p>\n
Satnam praised the support she has received and continues to receive from Breast Cancer Haven in Solihull.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cIt was early stage breast cancer but invasive surgery was needed because two tumours had to be dealt with fairly quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few months later I reached out to Breast Cancer Haven as well as other organisations to seek counselling and therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey provide up to ten hours of free help. I had acupuncture and counselling last year to help me deal with the trauma of cancer, the operation and the side effects of my on-going medication.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was diagnosed, I decided to make the videos because I was in a position where I could cascade information very quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt if I was going to go through this experience, I should use the experience as positively as I could by spreading awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I could either go away quietly and get on with it or I could do something about it \u2013 and I decided to do something about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was mainly motivated by the fact that when I spoke to my peer group and asked my friends if they checked their breasts, I realised there was a gap in knowledge which is why I also started a social media campaign #checkthemout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Satnam has made films to continue to encourage women to check their breasts and contact their GP if they have any concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was inundated with messages after posting the videos and it gained a great deal of publicity which was great,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 100,000\u00a0people watched the first video and although it was a really emotional and difficult time, I hope I have encouraged other women to seek help.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysically, I am now in a much better place and mentally, I am in a better place but there are still days which are difficult dealing with the side effects which is why organisations such as Breast Cancer Haven are vital.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Being Well event will give visitors the opportunity to shop at a \u2018well being marketplace\u2019, take part in activities and taster sessions, receive one-to-one advice on health and well being and attend a special ticketed lunch.<\/p>\n
The festival coincides with Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Haven will benefit from funds raised throughout the day.<\/p>\n
Breast Cancer Haven operates from seven locations across the UK and provides emotional, physical and practical support for anyone affected by breast cancer including one-to-one therapy and counselling for family and friends.<\/p>\n
The event is free, visitors will need to book tickets to attend by going to www.beingwellfestival.co.uk<\/a> and places can be booked at www.beingwellfestival2019.eventbrite.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n Visit breastcancerhaven.org.uk to find out more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A BBC journalist who filmed her emotional journey battling breast cancer is among the keynote speakers at a pioneering event in the Midlands. Wolverhampton-born Satnam Rana, who is the arts and culture correspondent at BBC Midlands Today, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. From her diagnosis and throughout her surgery to have a mastectomy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}