LAD Creates Bra That Could Help Detect Breast Cancer After Watching His Mum Suffer

A teenager has created a bra that can help detect early signs of breast cancer, the Daily Mail reports.

18-year-old Julian Rios Cantu, from Mexico, watched his mum suffer from the illness when he was 13, and now, along with his friends, has developed the Eva bra which could potentially save lives.

It works by using biosensors to measure temperature, which is logged in a mobile app and will alert the wearer to any changes.

Women will have to wear it for 60 - 90 minutes a week for it to work, which is certainly worth it.

Credit: Higia Technologies

Julian is part of the Higia Technologies company, which won the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), earlier this year, according to the Mail. They took away $20,000 (£15,500), thanks to the win, meaning they can develop the bra from it's 'prototype stage'.

They say they're "devoted to boosting women's quality of life by attaining a professionalisation of the self exploration method for the early and effective detection of breast cancer".

Credit: Higia Technologies

The development of the product is certainly needed, as there are some doubts over how accurate it can be.

"At present, there is no evidence to show whether this bra is a reliable way to detect tumours, and it's certainly not a good idea for women to use technology that hasn't been tested in good-quality scientific trials," Anna Perman from Cancer Research UK told BBC. "It's great to see young people like Julian getting into science and having ideas that could help with cancer diagnosis."

Tumours do change the temperature of that area, through increased blood flow, however it's not always an indication that you may have cancer.

However, LADs, don't go thinking that breast cancer is simply something that effects women, it's not.

This widely under-reported cancer in men is one that needs awareness - Roy Collins is a man spearheading that campaign.

Only 350 men per year are diagnosed with breast cancer, however with such small figures are we even aware of it?

"It doesn't hurt. Cancer doesn't hurt," Roy told LADbible. "Until it's too late. I would never have felt my own breast to check if I've got cancer."

It's something that is supported by Eluned Hughes, head of public health and information at Breast Cancer Now.

"It's not very well known because it is rare," she says. "There's only 350 diagnosis per year. The chances of a man getting breast cancer is one in 800."

"Breast cancer is seen as a female disease, men don't think of themselves having breast tissue."

Roy has a lot to thank his wife Theresa for.

Now aged 61, Roy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. His was noticed by his wife, Theresa (thankfully, she's a nurse), who saw that his nipple was inverted one day when stepping out the shower. After a feel, she told him to get it checked straight away.

"I'm like any bloke," Roy says. "The only time I look in the mirror is to check my tie is straight. I get in the shower, get out and get dressed. I certainly wouldn't have got it checked without Theresa."

After going to the doctors, Roy was referred to a consultant, where an "uncomfortable" mammogram and a biopsy followed. This confirmed the fears of cancer, a malignant growth, 6cm in size.

Roy says there was no choice than to have a mastectomy of the right breast and remove lymph nodes from the right arm where the cancer had travelled too.

18 weeks of chemotherapy, three of radiotherapy and then five years of Tamoxifen tablets have now seen Roy make a full recovery.

The causes are still unsure, although experts link it mostly to family history and weight.

Hughes, says men need to know their bodies.

Topics: Cancer

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.