A group of nurses from Bendigo Health have taken to their feet to raise almost $5000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
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The 19 nurses, who work on Ward 5A in the hospital, each took 10,000 steps every day through August as part of the Step Up to Breast Cancer challenge.
"As nurses this step count is something most of us can achieve during our shift," Katie Buttersworth said.
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"We used our fitness watches to track our steps and we would often check on each other's step count throughout the day to motivate each other.
"At the end of the shift we would take the stairs instead of the lift in order to achieve those last few steps of the day."
The group raised the money through donations from family and friends, including a single donation of $500.
Ms Buttersworth said the challenge also provided a social outlet for the nurses.
The ward had a social club that organised activities during the year, she said, but the pandemic disrupted their usual plans.
"Given this year's unprecedented events we were unable to organise our usual social activities to break up the year," Ms Buttersworth said.
"It can be difficult to stay motivated with gyms being closed and with life in lockdown and this fundraiser was a positive change among us."
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The funds the nurses have raised will go towards research on breast cancer, to better understand risk factors that might contribute to cancer development and recurrence.
While the National Breast Cancer Foundation says five-year survival rates have risen from 76 to 91 per cent since it began funding research in 1994, the incidence of the disease is increasing.
One in seven women and one in 675 men are expected to be diagnosed in their lifetime, and eight people still die from it each day.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, with about 20,000 people expected to be diagnosed this year - that is about 55 people each day.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation hopes to see no deaths from breast cancer by 2030.
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