“If I had not gone, the cancer would have spread.” local

She is still in the middle of her chemotherapy and there is still a full treatment process to come. She writes in response to De Gelderlander’s article That fewer and fewer people participate in population surveys. But if I had not gone, the cancer could have spread unnoticed. Who knows how long I will live. In my case, the research was life-saving. So I say: Do it!

Research was not only “salvation” for her. Ricky Dixman (76) says he is still alive thanks to the research: “There were actually cancer cells in my axillary glands. This was almost twenty years ago now. There was no investigation and I later found out it was too late. I tell everyone when it comes to : Go for this research.

However, there are also women who don’t go. “For those who think it only hurts for a few minutes.” They actually tore the skin under my breasts twice during this scan. Do you know how long that hurts? “Then you think several times whether you want to go again,” says Astrid van Baarle.

Jopie Kitzen is no longer participating either. ‘This hurts so much. The nurse said there was no other choice but to fasten it tightly. Other times the nurse listens, so there is no pain. Unfortunately, another unpleasant experience later. So I won’t go anymore.

After twice participating in a breast cancer screening programme, Astrid Geertsen decided to ignore these “torture practices” from now on. “I started looking for an alternative study on my own initiative, and it exists: at the LUMC (Leeds University Centre, ed.) in Leiden. CT mammogram. Then the costs are for yourself. Really ridiculous, because that makes it unavailable to everyone every two years. It would be really different…”

Henriette Blominck, who has not participated for years because it is an “unpleasant examination,” thinks so too: “The alternative is to do an ultrasound of the breasts. This is much less uncomfortable.”