Women who have seen the impacts of breast cancer first hand are encouraging all women to do regular breast self examinations.

A BreastAware workshop in Casa Mia Fairy Meadow's pamper centre saw three women from different walks of life come together for an important message that could help save lives.

The BreastAware program was born out of a need identified by Maralyn Young after she discovered just how many women in the community are affected by breast cancer.

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Mrs Young wanted to help reduce the number of women losing their breasts or their lives and is now rolling the program out into schools.

She uses a model of a breast to help women learn how to identify dangerous lumps, what they feel like and what to look for.

At the workshop she was joined by two inspirational women.

Heidi Yi bravely spoke about her present battle after being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer three weeks before Christmas.

Ms Yi encouraged women to not only learn how to examine their breasts but do it regularly.

"One night while I was watching TV, I noticed some pain in my left breast," she said.

"When I pressed on it there was a mass the size of a golf ball. I panicked and I went to see the GP the very next morning.

"When the results came back I was mortified. How could this be? I had a mammogram and ultrasound only 14 months prior and I was only 35.

"I had uni-lateral mastectomy which was removal of my left breast. Followed by chemotherapy which made me very sick. Now I am getting night sweats and hot flushes, and going through early menopause because of chemotherapy which is a bit sad given I am young and don't have any children.

"Once I finish chemo in May I will start radiation therapy which will be every day for five weeks.

"This will be followed by hormonal therapy which is a 10-year treatment.

"Also I will consider having prophylactic mastectomy which is removal of my right breast to prevent another breast cancer.

"Once I have had both breasts removed, I have the option of getting breast reconstruction surgery which is a major surgery using skin from other parts of the body to hold the implants.

"So we are looking at around a two-year journey until I am fully recovered."

Ms Yi encouraged women to do what Mrs Young suggested and examine their breasts thoroughly at least once a month.

"I used to enjoy life, love my work and my passion in motorsport and motor racing," she said.

"Now I have gone from joining car clubs to cancer clubs. My advice to you is be more aware of any changes to your body, plan a healthy diet and lifestyle, reduce stress, have regular mammograms, do self breast checks and see a doctor if you are not too well."

Breast cancer survivor Tanya Curran Brown spoke about her new book A Tale of Two Titties which she described as a true story of how she gave breast cancer the flick.

Her memoir is being released by Love & Write Publishing after a public book launch at the Novotel on April 14.

A Tale of Two Titties is a personal story of battling a highly aggressive form of breast cancer, which ultimately resulted in her making the brave choice to undergo a double mastectomy.

"I thought 'if I had something like this to read it would be great to know it was written by a person who had what I have, and she got through and came out the other end and I think I can do this'," she said.

Ms Brown hopes shining a humorous light on such a serious disease will help women needing a hand to hold as they fight their own cancer battle.

"I hope it gives women going through this something they can relate to," she said.

"It is my take on a lot of things."

Mrs Young is planning to open a second pamper centre, dedicated to caring for women with cancer, at Warilla.

The first in Australia opened in Fairy Meadow 12 months ago and offers products, information, support and services for women affected by cancer.

Her team help fit wigs, hats and accessories and offer massage and beauty treatments using natural skincare products to help with healing. And there are prosthetic breast forms for women after mastectomy or lumpectomy.

A mother and daughter BreastAware workshop was recently held at Lake Illawarra High School and TIGS is one of the first schools to host BreastAware workshops in 2014, where teenage girls get to understand more about their development and learn what is normal for them.

"With education they will understand the changes and causes that can occur in the breast, so when they do feel lumps and bumps they are not necessarily alarmed and think it is bad but know that if it is not normal for them then get checked by the doctor," Mrs Young said.

"Early detection is the key to survival of breast cancer. It is harder to detect cancer in young women with mammograms because of the denseness of their breast tissue, so self examination is vital for ages 20 to 40."