1 New Zealander dies every 24 hours from gynaecological cancer. Why the silence?

Talk Peach is a registered New Zealand charity founded by and run by survivors and those whose lives have been affected by g ovarian cancer one of the 5 gynaecological cancers.

We know all too well the devastation that comes with this diagnosis and the heartbreaking feeling of being overlooked.

We are desperate to educate to break down the stigma stopping life-saving conversations, this is a national issue, it's about equity, it's about our wahine, it's about feminism. Tomorrow we lose another mum, aunt, sister, daughter, gran, wife to this insidious disease, ovarian cancer is the deadliest of all women's cancers and largely one of the most underfunded.

September is Gynaecological Cancer Awareness month, for years this has crept past without a whisper, stigma plays a part, so does the fact that we don’t have the army of survivors to match the streets and fundraise, to put it bluntly, we are all dying. With ovarian cancer women like me literally don't live long enough to form the army of advocates that our breast cancer whanau have done so incredibly.

Our vision is to inform New Zealanders on gynaecological disease, connect and support those who are diagnosed and support those advocating and undertaking life-saving research.

There are major gaps in public awareness

1 person dies every 48 hours in New Zealand from Ovarian Cancer, that's higher than our road toll, yet conversations around it remain deafeningly silent.

Cervical cancer a preventable cancer is the 2nd biggest cancer killer of Māori wahine.

The survival rate for ovarian cancer sits at 39%, breast cancer used to have a similar outlook but now thanks to incredible advocacy, large scale fundraising and an immense amount of research, public support and awareness the breast cancer survival rate now sits at 91% when detected via a mammogram.

Talk Peach acknowledges and applauds the tremendous outcomes in the fight against breast cancer and believe that with similar commitment and resources we can achieve the same success for gynaecological cancers.

We need to break down the stigma stopping life-saving conversations; today we lose another wahine to gynaecological cancer.

“In 10 years time, I don’t want to see that nothing has changed, I can’t bear to see more and more New Zealanders dying of gynaecological cancers, of something they had never heard of, never knew the signs for, or that remain so underfunded in all aspects of the disease (support, education and research). It breaks my heart over and over feeling like I got cancer that no one gives a shit about, or can talk about” -Tash Crosby Ovarian cancer survivor and Talk Peach Founder

We have to start having life-saving conversations about gynaecological health, staying silent is harming our communities. We desperately need gynecological cancer month to be as bold as other cancer awareness months.

We are trying to raise $50,000 a mere fraction of what other health initiatives make but for us it's a start.

We want to run the first-ever large scale nationwide campaign and provide a support guide for all those diagnosed so they don’t face the isolating heartbreak we did and so many in our comminuty across the country also did upon diagnosis.

Our mission moving forward is to:

To provide support and education on gynaecological health.

To educate the community on the signs and symptoms of the 5 gynaecological cancers in order to reduce late stage diagnosis.

To provide information and support to all women diagnosed with gynaecological cancers.

To support those involved with life saving research into gynaecological cancer treatment and cures.

Please help us put gynaecological cancer in the spotlight, we can't do it without you. Do it for your mother, sister, aunt, gran, wife, friends or daughter. Please help we are all waiting for you.