February Educator of the Month
Originally from Italy, Denise Baldacci is one of our Certified Global Educators living in Berlin, Germany. Having a history of breast cancer in her family, she was always told she needed to perform self-exams, but was never shown how. She performed self-exams as best she knew how and found a 3cm lump in the shower one day. Thankfully it was caught early, though she stated, “In retrospect, I could recognise some of the symptoms shown in the 12 Signs of Breast Cancer picture, that would have helped me recognise even earlier that there was an issue.”
She decided to become a Certified Global Educator after her own diagnosis and is driven to empower others to learn about their own breast health, spread awareness, and reduce mortality through education. She started a blog called Glamorize The Chaos to document her own treatment, but also to guide and support other cancer warriors on their journey.
Denise educates in a unique way by providing information on her blog and offering a place where you can request her to speak at an event, company, zoom meeting, etc. We thought we’d share a blog post in her own words from her blog:
Denise in Berlin, under a “lemon tree”
Life has given you lemons? Keep ‘em checked!
The past few months have been very gray and rainy – not the best for several reasons, including a lack of Vitamin D (not exactly my cup of tea, says the meteopath in me!), but today, at last, a little bit of sun shines through Berlin!
I spent the last months between Netflix and German courses, as I finally decided to study the local language, and during these months I also became a Global Educator for the “Know Your Lemons” foundation.
You may ask: “What is Know Your Lemons?” I’ll get to it…
I found out about this foundation while searching the internet for information about cancer, and I immediately fell in love with them. Apparently, KYL and I have a mutual “friend”.
KYL is a foundation whose mission is to educate women (and not just women) in order to provide them with the tools to make adequate choices about their health, and raising awareness of breast cancer in general.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer but at the same time also the most treatable if diagnosed at an early stage. The most effective method to reduce the mortality of this cancer, is therefore to educate as many people as possible, regardless of gender, providing them with the necessary tools to identify this unwanted guest as soon as possible.
We obviously talk about breast cancer, yet in a “lighter” and simpler way, comparing the structure of the actual breast and of its insides to a lemon, through similarities that make the explanation more informal and successful, even where issues of embarrassment or shyness could have hindered a normal conversation about it.
Lemons, games and an exceptional tutor make the explanation more dynamic and less burdensome… an exceptional tutor? Mona Lisa herself!
Mona Lisa is also the protagonist of the App created by KYL to make the monthly breast self-check easier, funnier and more effective. In the App, you will be able to find useful information but also record your own notes to monitor your changes.
To overcome the Lockdown period, as the pandemic is still in progress, we can organize online classes with Zoom and Skype wherever you are and with anyone you want to invite.
If you want to know more, organize or participate in a lesson – or why not, become an educator yourself, do not hesitate to contact me!
To read more about Denise's cancer journey, you can visit her blog here:
If you or someone you know would like to become an educator:
If you are an educator who would like to be featured as an Educator of the Month, email Aysha at aysha@knowyourlemons.com.