Kylie Minogue supports breast cancer initiative

By Candy Lashkari

Australian singer Kylie Minogue is part of this year’s Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign. Kylie is a cancer survivor who was diagnosed with the disease in May 2005. She had to cancel her Showgirl world tour’s Australian leg because of that.

Kylie said: "It means so much to be part of this year's campaign for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. I wholeheartedly support their efforts to raise funds for the vital work undertaken by Breakthrough Breast Cancer.”

She needed a partial mastectomy to get rid of a malignant tumor. Besides which she underwent eight months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She was finally given the clear of cancer signal in 2006. While she was being treated in 2005 Kylie Minogue had to cancel her appearance at a cancer charity ball in London and she had sent a gutsy message, “I am a cancer patient. I aim to be a cancer survivor.”

As part of this year’s campaign Kylie has been photographer by celebrity photographer Mario Testino wearing only a silk sheet printed with the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Campaign Logo and a smile. Others who have also been photographed for the same cause and in similar attire are actress Sienna Miller and the super model Claudia Schiffer.

"It means so much to be part of this year's campaign for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. I wholeheartedly support their efforts to raise funds for the vital work undertaken by Breakthrough Breast Cancer.” said Kylie about participating for the first time in an anti cancer campaign after she beat the disease.

Fashion Targets Breast Cancer or FTBC is a fundraising campaign from the UK charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Since its launch in UK in 1996 it Breakthrough Breast Cancer has raised more than £10.5 million. The original annual fashion industry campaign was pioneered by designer Ralph Lauren in New York after he lost his friend Nina Hyde to the disease. Nina Hyde was the fashion editor of Washington Post.

Kylie has spoken before about how life changes dramatically after the battle against cancer. “I learned that you never go back to a normal state, instead you have to create a new normal state. I have to accept my life for its triumphs and its other sides, take the good with the bad. I experienced a world of illness and positive attitudes. These experiences contributed to making me a more mature person."

When cancer strikes it can be totally disheartening, but as more cancer survivors take up the cause of educating others things can change.