Transforming ideas into commercials and billboards around the city used to be Liang Po-tin's source of great satisfaction. A self-confessed perfectionist and workaholic, her job as a high-flying advertising manager was her life, working until as late as 2am.
That is, until an ultrasound test last October revealed she had late stage two breast cancer. 'I was devastated,' she says.
Fortunately, half a year of surgery and chemotherapy treatments helped. She returned to work last month armed with an entirely transformed outlook on life. '[Now], I slow down my pace and devote more time to exercise, which I seldom did in the past.'
A poor lifestyle puts a lot of women at risk of breast cancer - the most common cancer among local women - says Dr Sharon Chan Wing-wai, clinical director of the Kowloon East Cluster Breast Centre at United Christian Hospital.
The biggest culprit is the lack of physical activity, according to a report issued last month by the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation (HKBCF). Of 5,393 patients surveyed, 72.5 per cent lacked exercise, with only 4.3 and 5.8 per cent being smokers and drinkers, respectively. Other risk factors cited include not breastfeeding (59.8 per cent) and high stress levels (36.1 per cent).
Chan says the incidence of breast cancer rose from 1,918 cases in 2000 to 2,701 in 2007 - or by 41 per cent. The median age of local patients when they get diagnosed is 48, far lower than the 60 for the United States and Australia.
'One in 21 women falls prey to it now,' Chan says. 'Eighty per cent of patients covered in the report do not have a family history of the disease. Many of them are not smokers or drinkers. Thinking that they are unlikely to get breast cancer, they lack the awareness to get regular medical check-ups.'