Continuing their pledge to raise greater awareness about ovarian cancer, Camilla and Marc have launched ‘Ovaries. Talk About Them’.
The new line of unisex t-shirts and hoodies are designed to raise further funds for an early detection test with 100% of proceeds going directly into research.
Without early warning signs, three women die from the deadly disease in Australia every day and close to 300,000 women are diagnosed worldwide. Once diagnosed, it’s often too late.
Creative director Camilla Freeman-Topper and CEO Marc Freeman lost their mother to ovarian cancer 27 years ago when they were just 11 and 13 respectively. Motivated by this devastating loss, Camilla and Marc launched ‘Ovaries. Talk About Them’ in 2020 to increase awareness and fund research into an early detection test led by Associate Professor Caroline Ford.
“The injection of funds from the first successful year of the ‘Ovaries. Talk About Them’ campaign has allowed us to create a dedicated expert team of scientists focused on the development of an early detection test for ovarian cancer,” Associate Professor Caroline Ford said.
“The funds from the campaign have significantly progressed the development of our early detection test. This funding has meant an increased focus and our outlook is extremely positive. In the last year the team have identified a set of DNA changes specific for ovarian cancer and have begun the process of testing these in the lab on cells from patients. We are hopeful that we could be just years away from an early detection test which would be groundbreaking for this disease.”
“There is still no early diagnosis test for ovarian cancer almost 30 years after my mother’s death, largely due to a lack of awareness and funding which is just so hard to believe,” Camilla Freeman-Topper said. “It’s so difficult because we all want to be preventative and get checked but there’s currently no way to do this.”
CEO Marc Freeman added: “The Camilla and Marc business is relentless in the pursuit of this initiative. This year we proudly invite men to stand in solidarity with women to create a bold and united force to support this cause that is in desperate need of awareness and funding.”
The 2021 ‘Ovaries. Talk About Them’ limited-edition t-shirts and hoodie will be available at Camilla and Marc boutiques throughout Australia and via the website.
Those who buy a t-shirt or hoodie are encouraged to share their personal experience on social media with the tags #ovariestalkaboutthem, #powerandsolidarity and #CAMILLAANDMARC.