Today, October 1st, marks the first day of my 6th 31 day campaign to raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer and funds for the OCRF, our leading independent body dedicated to funding ovarian cancer research.
What is Frocktober?
Frocktober is the campaign that empowers women around Australia to channel their creative flair through their favourite frocks, all while raising urgently-needed funds for the OCRF’s innovative research projects that help to shine a light on ovarian cancer.
Who does Frocktober & who does it support?
Frocktober, started by a group of friends in Geelong in 2007, is now hosted by the OCRF and it has two main goals;
to raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer, the signs & symptoms of this disease as well as statistics & treatment advances
to raise funds for the OCRF to fund research projects into developing an early detection test for which there is none and to advance treatment of ovarian cancer, because believe it or not, it hasn't changed much over the past two decades.
When does Frocktober take place?
Frocktober runs from October 1st through until Frocktober 31st each year. You can frock up all 31 days, each Friday, once during the month or any amount of times you choose. There are no hard and fast rules! It is a fun campaign that allows the community to really start a conversation about this deadly disease.
With the current statistics of ONE Australian woman dying every EIGHT hours from this cancer, that means during the month of Frocktober we will lose NINETY-THREE women who are daughters, mums, wives, best friends, colleagues, neighbours.
Where is Frocktober held?
Frocktober is primarily an online, social media based campaign. Follow the OCRF on Instagram (as well as me - obviously!) and you can search the hashtags #Frocktober and #Frocktober2020 to find other frockers!
Why do I do Frocktober?
I do Frocktober to honour my mum who we lost 19 years ago to Ovarian Cancer. And to honour all the other mums, daughters, wives, girlfriends, best friends, work wives and neighbours who have lost their lives to this horrendous disease. I do Frocktober to raise awareness of the subtle signs and symptoms of this cancer as well as the shocking statistics of ovarian cancer. I do Frocktober to fund research to help those battling this cancer right now. And if you think it won't happen to anyone you know, it WILL. I know three beautiful women, two of them younger than me, who are currently fighting this. All three are mums who would leave the biggest of broken hearts behind should they lose this fight. All three had to undergo INVASIVE surgery to discover they had this cancer because, just as there wasn't 20 odd years ago for our mum, there is STILL NO EARLY DETECTION TEST for Ovarian Cancer. Pap smears do NOT detect Ovarian Cancer.
Most of you who will read this are mums. Can you even imagine having to leave behind your babies because there is not enough knowledge of this cancer? Because we as women tend to put our own health last, ignoring signs and symptoms that things might not be quite right with us? Because there is no early detection test? Because there has not been enough funding for research into treatments?
How can you help?
First and foremost, financially. Very blunt and crude, but there it is. Money is what is needed to fund MORE RESEARCH. Research that scientists, like Dr Maree Bilandzic and Dr Amy Wilson, who have devoted their careers to researching better treatment options for ovarian cancer can only continue to undertake with funding.
You can donate here:
Given this shite show of a year, I've been loathe to ask for donations though. Both financial donations and donations of frocks and goods from rad bizs like I normally do. So, if you are not able to help financially, I ask that you help spread awareness. I've created some fancy pants graphics with Frocktober facts which you may have seen in my stories over the past month that I am more than happy for every women, man and their dog to share on their socials. Awareness is vital for saving lives.
You can download them below (hopefully! Any issues, please email me at lifelovesandliz@gmail.com and I'll send them to you).
Also, please follow along and like/comment/share my pics and facts. This creates more engagement on Instagram which means more people will see these facts. And this could save a life. Just because many women put their health last, doesn't mean their partner, children, friends etc will let them. They are often the ones that will notice something is not quite right and encourage them to do something about it. So we need to create awareness. And doing this is totally free and not all that hard!
And lastly, a HUGE, GIGANTIC thank you to my gorgeous frock donaters this year. I decided to only approach a few and rather than 31 frocks, get 6 frocks that I can style 5 different ways each. After all, who doesn't want to be able to wear something more than once?! So a big shoutout and virtual hug to the following rad bizs:
Please get behind the Frocktober campaign, there are some absolutely amazing women taking part, raising life saving funds for ovarian cancer. My first frock will be appearing this afternoon, stay tuned!!!