Certainly it has made the headlines in Australia and Britain, and I presume it has also made the headlines in America.

Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer last week and a few days later underwent surgery in a Melbourne hospital. It is believed that the cancer was restricted to the breast, but that is still to be confirmed. It has been the lead story for many newspapers and television since the news broke.

Now I have never had breast cancer so I might be talking through my hat, but I would have thought she would like to keep something like this as private as possible. At the very least if I were her I would be asking the media to respect her wishes. From my observations this hasn't been the case. There was even news coverage of her leaving the hospital with a jacket covering her head, a la media/criminal style.

Perhaps this much exposure has been designed to raise funds for breast cancer research, however only $10,000 has been raised which seems to be a paltry amount. Granted any amount is good but it doesn't to be in proportion to the amount of media coverage. It is almost like 'the circus has come to town'.

Is this a case of the paparazzi going overboard or do you think that in part it has been caused by Kylie herself?

I know I've heard the news story about it, but if there is a way to generate funds for a cure, it'd be great for all the women out there to know a cure has been found. Until then, all we can do is continue to fund research to find that cure we are looking for. If she wanted it out there, she has that right (I don't know how Aussie laws are), but the media shouldn't make a circus out of it.

Someone had to have broken the news, I suspect her publicity team would have something to do with it although it would only be a matter time before someone else leaked it to the press.

Often high profile people go public on such matters almost as a service to others, encouraging women to seek treament.

At a guess, bearing in mind the timescale, she might have had a lumpectomy rather than more drastic surrgery.

I wish her well and if she raises awareness and funds then good.

As she had to cancel a major tour, it was a little difficult to not give a reason. And I agree with Sue, it would have leaked out soon enough, so best be up front with it I think.

The part I've found the most ridiculous is the way that every news show has run a piece on how 'the media' are hounding the poor girl, and shouldn't they just keep away? Um people, aren't you the media? And the way they illustrate the story and how shameful it is: "other stations show images like these" and then procede to show the same images!

I don't know about the fund-raising side, but what's really great is that screening centres reported massive increases in enquiries and bookings in the days after the news was broken. Until there is a cure, the best hope is still early detection. It certainly brought it home to me again that it isn't only 'older' women who have to worry (I'm a couple of years younger than our Kyles). Coincidentally, I had already made a mental note to have a check-up earlier that day when I'd seen a 17-year-old girl with breast cancer (on Dr Phil, which I hardly ever watch, so I took that as a further sign).