Apollo Bay Distillery’s Hope Gin is raising awareness and money towards women’s health

Life-changing but not life-ending.

October marks thirty-one days dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease. With the risk of diagnosis of breast cancer being one in eight for women by aged 85, there’s no doubt that early detection and preventative care is highly encouraged for women of all ages.

That is why local business Apollo Bay Distillery, have created a wonderful pink gin beautifully named Hope Gin. With its refreshing flavours and notes of rose and vanilla, along with lilly pilly and orange, Hope Gin is helping to raise awareness and funds towards breast cancer. The distillery is all about positively prompting women to get their yearly mammograms and regular checks with their breast, with the help of a little beverage.

Hitting a little closer to home, the distillery’s own general manager Gigi Milone carries the gene fault of BRCA1 – a mutation that increases one’s receptibility to developing the unfortunate disease.

“I have a twin sister and an older sister and unfortunately we all do carry the BRAC1 gene. So, for us we have a really elevated chance of breast cancer and later in life ovarian cancer,” says Gigi.

“Though, one in seven women, regardless of BRCA1, these chances are high for women – beyond their genetic mutation,” she continues.

 

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🎀 October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! 🎀 Our general manager, Gigi, has written a beautiful post about her own story of finding out that she is a carrier of the BRCA1 gene mutation. Pink Hope Community has given here so much hope and support! This month, we have produced our new “Hope Gin” at Apollo Bay Distillery. $5 from each bottle sale will be donated to Pink Hope! To order online visit Prickly Moses Handcrafted Beer or come and visit us at the Apollo Bay Distillery 💕 https://www.apollobaydistillery.com.au/pink-hope/ Have a read below to learn more about Gigi’s story… “Pink again to represent the fight to end breast cancer! Breast cancer affects on average 1 in 8 women in Australia. Let that sink in… what that number doesn’t account for are all the husbands, wives, children, parents and friends that it affects too as a result. What can we do to help reduce this number? Well quite simply, this is a friendly reminder to… CHECK 👏🏻 YOUR 👏🏻 BREASTS 👏🏻 This is so important and should become a standard part of women’s health and education. If you’re not sure how to do it here are some really simple instructions from Pink Hope Community: https://pinkhope.org.au/how-to-check-your-breasts-for-lumps/ Breast Cancer Awareness Month never really used to mean anything to me personally but that has changed since I found out I carry the BRCA1 gene mutation. I feel so privileged that I am in a position to make such educated decisions regarding my health and that there are such amazing support networks in place such as Pink Hope Community. Pink Hope is a breast and ovarian preventative health hub, working to ensure every individual can assess, manage and reduce their risk of breast and ovarian cancer, while providing personalised support to at-risk women. I wanted to do something positive for the cause, but what? I’m certainly no marathon runner, and I’m not much of a baker… so, for those of you that know me, you wouldn’t be surprised when I thought to turn my passion into something to benefit a good cause. As the manager of a distillery the stars aligned.

A post shared by Apollo Bay Distillery (@apollobaydistillery) on Oct 8, 2020 at 1:25pm PDT

For every bottle sold, they will be donating $5 to the Pink Hope Foundation. A preventative health hub that provides every individual with the necessary tools to assess and manage their health to reduce their risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Gathering support from locals of Apollo Bay and beyond, Gigi and Apollo Bay Distillery want people to recognise that breast cancer is not a life-ending situation.

“It’s not a death sentence. It’s now something that doctors and you can now be aware of that you have many ways of dealing or managing,” said Gigi.

While letting everyone know that it’s not only a battle for the individual, but a fight that affects those surrounding the one’s they love

“It doesn’t just affect women, it affects everyone. It affects husbands, partners, girlfriends, children, parents – you know it affects everybody, everyone in that person’s life.”

Check out Hope Gin now here and help the fight against breast cancer.