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Bernardette (on the left) first spotted the Breast Friends charity on Facebook. Like many others, she too was diagnosed with breast cancer and was looking for a local support group to make her day-to-day battle a bit less difficult.
During her treatments she found out the walks have a very calming and therapeutic effect which is why the charity started to organise wellness walks in the first place.
Breast Friends Northampton Co-Founder and a mum-of-two, Leonie, was diagnosed with breast cancer back in January 2016. She is now out of remission, but can agree that cancer has changed her view on life. She fully appreciates every moment spent with her family and friends and understands the importance of positive thinking. Ten months after her treatments, she went back to work as a Primary School support staff and decided to create a local support group.
„All we wanted to do initially was a place to meet, but we've now reached around 80 members locally. We wanted to be there and support people who are going through the same things as us.“
The first event Breast Friends did was in partnership with „Something to Look Forward To.“ They went to Cambridge for punting with the group and they've all bonded and friendships were created.
„That's been wonderful to see. It was much needed. Don't let cancer define you. Never underestimate a special day and realise that there are really good things in life, despite the cancer.“
During those treatments you really need to try think positively and surround yourself with people who love you, mentioned Bernardette.
A lot of the cancer suppport groups are based around hospitals, but sometimes people don't want to meet there, that's why we decided to be outside of that environment, said Leonie. They have so many members who have been diagnosed, are currently undergoing treatments, living with post-treatments and people with secondary breast cancer.
„It's not sitting in a circle and talking about breast cancer, the charity is so much more than that.“ –said Leonie.
Bernardette also mentioned the fact that, in other social situations cancer is something that not everyone has experienced, so it can be a bit awkward to talk about it, whereas with this group everyone has that mutual thing which connects us together.
„Women tend to openly talk about it in groups together, whereas men don't always do that.“-mentioned Leonie.
She also opened up about the fact that her stepdad had breast cancer 20 years ago but he is not comfortable of talking about it, which you can hear more about in the documentary.
Despite the fact that the charity has only females, Leonie has plans on how the charity can reach out to men who are affected by breast cancer and provide equal support. Some of the charity's future goals are to be able to provide holidays or short breaks for people affected by breast cancer.
„We're doing our best to support people from diagnosis and beyond. We would like to see what we can do when participating in breast awareness campaigns too.“ –said Leonie.
Breast Friends group meet at the Dapper Sandwich, 205 Wellingborough road, Northampton, NN1 4ED. From 7 until 9pm every first Wednesday of the month. Visit their website for more.
*correction from the video: Bernardette's name