News

National What Week: Wear it pink to raise funds for breast cancer research

Summary:

Breast cancer still kills 1,000 women a month across the UK

Image:

By Immi Calderwood

Across the UK supporters will don their roses and their rubies, their fuchsias and their puces, as Wear It Pink returns for another year of coral-tinted campaigning.

Wear It Pink is designed to raise both awareness and funds for breast cancer research, and to show solidarity and support to all those affected by the disease.

Although one of the most funded and mediatised types of cancer, breast cancer still kills 1,000 women a month across the UK and 50,000 more women are diagnosed.

“The one in eight ratio expected to suffer from breast cancer in their lifetime is just a little too close to comfort for me,” said Balham-based blogger Bailee Roberts of themodelfoodie.com, who backs the campaign.

“The only way we are going to be able to diminish the threat is through medical research. So, this is why I am supporting Wear It Pink,” she said.

“The more encouragement and support the people working towards treatment receive, the less loss we will all have to face.

“It’s as simple as that, I’m supporting because I want less people to suffer.”

Staff at the South West London Breast Screening Service know how important it is to continue raising funds for cancer research, as it is fundraising that helps provide services like these.

“With more funds we can do more early screenings, and through the early screenings we can spot teeny tiny cancers and get rid of them,” said a spokesperson for the service.

Last year, Wear It Pink raised £2.1million, of which £687,513 was raised by London and the South East.

The money raised goes towards pioneering breast cancer research, such as the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank.

A UK first, the tissue bank is a collaboration with four leading research institutions to create a vital resource of breast cancer tissue for researchers across the UK and Ireland.

There is no other large source of breast tissue available to scientists and doctors like this anywhere else in the world.

The Breast Cancer Campaign currently funds around 100 projects, worth more than £16million in 35 locations across the UK and Ireland.

As a food-lover, Bailee is celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness month with pink strawberry cupcakes, which she says she has created in an effort to promote cancer research. To try out her recipe visit: http://www.themodelfoodie.com/.

To find out other ways that you can get involved, at school, at work or at home, visit http://www.wearitpink.org/get-involved.

Photo courtesy of quimby, with thanks.

Follow us @SW_Londoner 

Related Articles