This month women - and men - everywhere are encouraged to think pink.

October has become the calendar occasion where supporters join forces to raise the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign profile.

More than 40,000 women are diagnosed with the disease every year making it the most common health concern for UK women.

A startling 34 women a day die from the disease - more than 12,000 women every year. One in nine will develop it at some point during their lifetime. Men can also be affected by the disease.

As well as raising awareness about the importance of screening and checking your breasts, the campaign aims to boost funds for research and treatment and support for sufferers.

Proceeds from pink products, clothes, accessories and appliances being sold through retailers as part of the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign will continue this vital work.

Bradford-based catalogue company, Grattan, and Marks & Spencer are among retailers supporting the campaign.

There are many charities and organisations providing sufferers, families and carers with information and support. Among them is Breast Cancer Care - the UK's leading provider of information, practical assistance and emotional support for anyone affected by the disease - and the research centre Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

In June the national charity Breast Cancer Haven launched an appeal to raise £2.2m and opened a much-needed Haven in Yorkshire to extend its vital work supporting the physical and emotional needs of anyone affected by breast cancer by providing free information, education and complementary therapies before, during and after medical treatment.

Throughout October, many breast cancer-related charities are asking everyone to think pink and raise money for people affected by breast cancer and Friday, October 19 is the official In the Pink day.

To register for your free fundraising pack full of tips and ideas visit www.breastcancercare.org.uk/inthepink or call the hotline on 0870 164 9422.

  • For more information about Breakthrough Breast Cancer call 020 7025 2400 or visit www.break through.org.uk or to find out more about Breast Cancer Haven call the Leeds appeal office on (0113) 237 3017.

"It makes you conscious of your life expectancy. There you are sailing along at 33 and you think you have a long life expectancy. It's quite an eye opener."

Days after celebrating her 33rd birthday, Joanne Young discovered a lump in her breast while showering.

She immediately went on the internet and found all manner of things it could be. It was a few weeks before she finally went to see the doctor.

"I didn't know whether it was something that would hopefully disappear, but it didn't."

Joanne was referred to the breast clinic at St Luke's Hospital in her home city of Bradford for tests.

A mammogram and subsequent ultrasound and biopsy revealed the lump in Joanne's right breast was an aggressive form of cancer. "I got the results a few weeks later on Friday 13th which was a bit ironic.

"I was scared but also quite relieved because I knew what it was and what I was dealing with."

Joanne explains she was told she would have to have surgery but was given time to consider her options - whether to have a lumpectomy or a mastectomy (having her breast removed). "I opted for the lumpectomy because I wanted to save as much as I could."

She underwent the lumpectomy in June. "I went back for the post op results. It wasn't good news."

Joanne discovered there was still some cancer left. "So I had to have a mastectomy. I was devastated. I wish I'd had the mastectomy done in the first place."

Joanne underwent gruelling chemotherapy treatment and radiotherapy.

"My idea of chemotherapy was what you see on TV and films - bald people being sick. It is horrible. I did lose my hair, but at that point I thought throw anything at me. If it will do some good I'll have it'. But I was never as sick as I thought I would be."

Joanne's follow-up treatment involves taking Tamoxifen, and she's involved in a clinical trial of a new drug developed to treat cancer of the bones.

She returned to work as a team manager with the West Yorkshire Pension Fund and is focusing on getting her life back on track. "It does change your life. I am not massively different but I don't get bothered by silly things any more."

Joanne's advice to other women is to be aware: "Be aware of anything that changes and don't leave it. Go to see somebody as soon as you can because the sooner you go the easier it is to treat."

"And don't assume it only happens to older people," she adds.

Carole Rawson, right, is among the minority.

The 67-year-old mother-of-three from Skipton didn't find a lump as most do. She felt fine and had no reason to believe anything was wrong.

She explains how her breast cancer was diagnosed following a regular mammogram which is why she's keen to raise awareness of the importance screening plays in early detection. Had she not have been for the mammogram, Carole knows hers could very well be a different story.

Fortunately, her cancer was caught in time - she didn't even have to have chemotherapy. Within three months she was clear.

Carole recalls receiving a letter after undergoing the mammogram asking her to attend the Pennine Suite at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford.

No amount of prodding and poking would have detected a lump. A further scan and biopsy confirmed medics' suspicions. "There was a white blur on the x-ray. I thought we know what this is'. I couldn't get my head round going into a decline.

"If I'd broken my leg I'd say what are you going to do about it?' I wasn't panicked. If it had been a huge lump I may have felt different, but breast cancer isn't the death sentence it was.

"I assume it would have eventually grown to a size where I could have felt it but because it was found so early, all I have is a scar on the breast and under my arm where they took the lymph nodes to make sure it hadn't got into the lymph glands."

Carole had radiotherapy and she is taking the follow-up drug Tamoxifen. She also goes for regular check-ups.

"You have to be positive - but you have to be positive with any illness. Once you start thinking I can't deal with this' the recovery isn't as swift or as easy.

"At the beginning of April I had breast cancer. I didn't have it by the end of June. It was a blip in life, not a blight," says Carole.