Elston Mum’s Campaign to Get Women Checking their Breasts

Hayley Storey found a “blueberry-like” lump in her left breast last year, after making a full recovery she is running an event this Saturday to fundraise and encourage women to check themselves.

The 34 year old events coordinator had just got married and moved into her newly renovated home with her family last year, when she was encouraged get a lump in her left breast checked out by her mum, who is a nurse.

Staff at the hospital were surprised when the biopsy of the lump came back as cancerous, as at 33 Hayley was considered a young breast cancer patient. 

Fortunately, her cancer was highly treatable and Hayley was offered a clinical trial, supported by Cancer Research UK. This changed the order in which chemotherapy and treatment was administered and cut the treatment time from six months to three.

Hayley is incredibly grateful for the support of family, friends and the local community, “One of my friends made me cakes, which became known as ‘chemo-cake’, every time I had chemo she brought me cake around. Another friend made a meal for me and the family on the day of chemo because she know I would be up to making a meal. I just don’t know how I would have coped without that support network.” 

To raise money for the charities that helped her through her treatment, Hayley is holding an afternoon tea party at Elston Village Hall this Saturday (27th June) from 2pm - 4pm. Cancer Research UK, Breast Cancer Care and Maggies at Nottingham City Hospital will all benefit from the event.

Currently, breast cancer screening is only available to women over fifty years old, which means that often younger women may not catch the disease at the early stages.

On Saturday, a video will be shown demonstrating how women should check their breasts for lumps - Something which Hayley says made a huge difference in her story, "I can't say how important it is to check yourself, if I hadn't caught my cancer early then I wouldn't be here today."