IN our county alone, more than 700 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women every year, while around seven men are also diagnosed. Countrywide, the yearly total is 44,000.

Put another way, one woman in nine will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.

Breast cancer usually starts in a cell lining a duct or a lobule and develops when a single cell begins to multiply out of control and form a tumour. After gender, age is the biggest risk factor - more than 80 per cent of cases occur in women over 50.

For this reason, the NHS invites all women between 50 and 70 years old for a mammogram every three years. The Dorset Breast Screening Unit in Poole Hospital screens more than 30,000 women aged 50 to 70 each year, either within the hospital or at one of three mobile screening vans. Less than one per cent of women screened are ultimately diagnosed with breast cancer.

However, screening allows early detection of cancer when it is more treatable and requires less aggressive surgery. It is estimated to save 1,400 lives a year across the UK.

Carolyn Newnham from Bridport, who will be 54 at Christmas, was just coming up to the age danger zone when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2001.

"It was a very difficult time," she said. "My youngest child was 11 in the July that I found the lump in my breast.

"At first, I was terrified; you think, This is awful, I'm going to die.' "I had a mastectomy on one breast, and at the same time, I had a reconstruction done and I had a follow-up treatment of chemotherapy and then I had radiotherapy.

"It was a very stressful time," said Carolyn who has two children. "At the same time, my mum passed away on my very first day of chemotherapy.

"I felt so sorry for the children. I had to try and keep cheerful for them."

However, she was in good hands.

"The hospital was great," she said. "I went to Dorchester. I had the mastectomy in Dorchester and the reconstruction and chemotherapy, and I had to go to Poole for the radiotherapy.

"The medical staff were very good, very understanding, and being with other women who are going through the same thing helped: you get a rapport with them."

A new lump or thickening in the one breast or armpit is among the changes to look out for. But Mandie Iskender, breast cancer research nurse at Poole Hospital, advises women: "Look out for any changes at all, a dimple, a lump, if there's anything different at all, get it checked out by the GP."

As for preventative measures people can take, Mandie said: "They should get exercise and eat healthily, but that would be recommended to anyone. There's so much going on, that is why we have all these different trials."

This breast cancer awareness month, the buzz phrase is Be breast aware'.

As Dr Lesley Walker, cancer information director at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's really important to make sure you're breast aware, know what's normal for you and attend screening when invited, as early detection can increase your chances of survival."

Attending screening meant that Credwyn Mabey, 63, from Poole found a lump in her breast early on. What was found is called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early form of breast cancer whereby the cells inside the milk ducts of the breast have started to turn into cancer cells. Some doctors describe DCIS as a pre-cancerous condition because it often develops into an invasive cancer if not treated.

Credwyn said: "I could not feel anything, the lump was found through my 60th birthday mammogram.

I had a letter to say they wanted to see me for further investigation. I had the biopsy and was asked to come in for a lumpectomy."

She continued: "Unfortunately, for my follow-up, I was told there was another area with three lumps there. First of all, they offered me a mastectomy, but I did not want to take it; so I had another lumpectomy.

"Until you've been there you can't know what you will do. My daughter and sister said you should have gone for the mastectomy, but it wasn't for me."

Now Credwyn is taking part in a trial called the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study II (IBIS-2).

The trial is investigating whether the drug anastrozole could be more effective at preventing breast cancer but with fewer side effects than the drug tamoxifen.

"There are two arms of the study," explained Mandie. "There is the DCIS arm and the prevention arm. The prevention arm is promoting the trial to those women who are deemed to be high risk."

Women can take part in this arm of the trial if they are between 40 and 70, have passed the menopause, and have either a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors such as certain types of benign lumps or abnormal mammograms.

Mandie explained: "They would take an anastrozole or a placebo. It's a double blind, so we do not know which they are taking and they do not know. We ask them to take a tablet for up to five years.

"The DCIS study is for women who have been diagnosed with DCIS, following treatment be it surgical or radiotherapy, and they are offered tamoxifen or anastrozole for up to five years."

It is into this category that Credwyn falls. "With the trial, you get your drugs in the post and I take them every morning," she said. Credwyn takes two tablets a day; the first contains either anastrozole or tamoxifen and the second is a placebo. "I have been feeling fine on the tablets; I've had no problems whatsoever," she said.

"When I was given the all-clear, I was asked to take part in the trial and I was quite happy to go ahead with it; that was three years ago. I was happy to take part to help somebody else. I've got a daughter and I've got sisters."

As for living with breast cancer, Carolyn Newnham explained: "It's something you have to get on with. At first, I found it very frightening.

"When I had the operation, they said, 'When you come round, we will let you know if the cancer has spread to the lymph glands.' Unfortunately, it had spread, so I had to have the lymph glands removed from my arm."

Carolyn must go for regular check-ups and take particular care with her arm, but she was given the all-clear in April. She now works as assistant manager in the Cancer Research UK shop in Bridport.

"What happened, happened. It's all over and done with now. I do not think about it. I look forward," she said. Visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/breastcancer or www.ibis-trials.org for more information.

If you are interested in taking part in the IBIS trial, call Mandie Iskender on 01202 448671.