| Philosophy | BMB has created a short film exploring what life is like for those who are living with secondary breast cancer for Breast Cancer Now, the UK’s leading breast cancer research and support charity, to mark the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Secondary breast cancer is when cancer cells spread from the breast to other parts of the body. When this happens, the cancer can be treated, but it cannot be cured. Breast cancer is affecting more of us than ever before. And each month in the UK, around 1,000 people die from secondary breast cancer. That’s someone dying every 45 minutes. There are now approximately 61,000 people living with secondary breast cancer in the UK, each with their own individual story to tell, but, as Breast Cancer Now has heard from many people living with the disease, they often feel overlooked within the community. This five-minute film, Stories of Secondary, gives us a rare opportunity to put the limelight on nine incredible women living with the disease. No two secondary breast cancer experiences are the same. In this new short film, women from a diverse range of backgrounds share a rare insight into what it’s like to live with an incurable disease. The film includes previously unseen material from interviews conducted for BMB and Breast Cancer Now’s latest ad campaign, ‘If I had more time’, which broke in late September. The film is also intended to highlight the hope that life-changing research into the disease can bring and Breast Cancer Now’s dedication, through its world-class research, to give more time to those who receive an incurable diagnosis. The urgent need for this research is further highlighted by the fact that one of the cast members, Patricia Swannell, sadly died just weeks after taking part in the campaign. Patricia dedicated the last years of her life to campaigning to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of secondary breast cancer, so more people could be diagnosed sooner and start treatment before the disease progresses further. The film is lovingly dedicated to her memory. |