‘Conquering Breast Cancer’ Doco Offers Hope of Improving Outcomes

In Australia, one in seven women will get breast cancer, and while survival rates beyond five years post-remission have improved, the number of cases has increased and younger women are being diagnosed.

In Conquering Breast Cancer, filmmaker Sue Collins explores the impact of a diagnosis and the scientific breakthroughs that are influencing treatment.

“Breast cancer is a really big topic,” Sue told Hope 103.2.

“But I knew so little about it.”

Ten years ago, after making films on palliative care and heart disease, Sue took a call from a young mum who said she was at high risk of breast cancer and wanted to use her experiences in a screening program to help other women on a similar journey.

“[A decade ago] there was a real sense of complacency around breast cancer,” Sue said.

“There’s so much fundraising and pink ribbons and everything going on, and this idea that it’s been solved, but it has not been solved.

“Women are still dying from breast cancer, so there’s a lot of work still needing to be done.”

Health educator Iman Zakhary works with patients from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds to make sure they can effectively access breast cancer services. In 2021, she received her own diagnosis and addresses its complexities in Conquering Breast Cancer.

“It was overwhelming,” Iman said.

“I have been checking my breasts since I was 40, [and I] was encouraging other women really to have their screening, so it was a shock.”

The amount of information patients have to deal with contributes to the overwhelm, and Iman believes women need both personal and medical assistance during this time.

“You really need support at this beginning stage,” Iman said.

“There’s so much information and it was really important that I keep my mind positive.

“Your mind is so overwhelmed and I couldn’t remember anything but it’s very important to go and have a second opinion, third opinion until you feel peace.”

For Iman, linking up with church community and other women who had experienced breast cancer made a significant difference.

Linking up with church community and other women who had experienced breast cancer made a significant difference.

“I am a woman of faith, and that really helped me,” she said.

“My body was very fragile but there were so many things that really helped me to hold on [to hope] and take one step at a time.”

Despite the challenges, both Sue and Iman believe there is reason for optimism. Advances in research, clinical trials and personalised treatments are creating new possibilities for patients.

“There’s so many advances in treatments which are having a huge impact on the outcomes for women,” Sue said.

“In Iman’s experience, doctors were changing the traditional methods of applying treatments so that she got a better outcome.

“There are things like immunotherapies [used to] target individual breast cancers and really design treatment specific to that woman and that’s where clinical trials and things like that become really important.”

Along with investigating the developing science behind breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, Conquering Breast Cancer confronts the underacknowledged psychological impacts of the disease and where support can be found.

“The breast cancer community is so strong,” Sue said.

“Women should know that they can reach out to just about any breast cancer network and they will be surrounded by women who will open their arms to them.

“Women should know that they can reach out to just about any breast cancer network and they will be surrounded by women who will open their arms to them,” – filmmaker Sue Collins

“No one needs to feel alone when they’re going through this journey.”

Iman’s message to women is “don’t give up whenever you hear that you have breast cancer”.

“The future looks good.”

Conquering Breast Cancer is in cinemas now.

Feature image: Moonshine Agency