Bras, banks and breast cancer - Friday 9th August

In 2010 Against Breast Cancer began a campaign to raise funds by recycling our supporters old and ill-fitting bras into small pink portable bra banks. We had no idea then that the idea would prove as popular as it has become.

What started with the support of a few independent lingerie retailers has blossomed into a fundraising phenomenon that in a little over two years has generated over £10,000 for the Against Breast Cancer Research Unit at University of Westminster, bit has kept tonnes of textiles from going to landfill and, of course, provided women in Africa with underwear that remains too expensive to manufacture locally.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. Every year almost 46,000 women are diagnosed, it claims around 12,000 lives and rates of incidence are rising. Thankfully survival rates are improving too. Advances resulting from scientific research, means that two thirds of women diagnosed with breast cancer will now survive their disease beyond 20 years.

The researchers at the Against Breast Cancer unit are focused on secondary spread breast cancer, improving survival rates through earlier detection. Their diet and lifestyle study involves of over 3000 breast cancer patients across the UK in a 5 year study across 56 NHS hospitals. It is the largest study of its kind and hopes to establish how diet, lifestyle and complementary treatments affect the spread of breast cancer. 

Continuing this research is expensive, we receive no government funding and so must raise the funds we need ourselves. 

We are so grateful to our supporters who, along with their old bras and our little bra branks have risen to the challenge and this blog hopes to tell a little of this on-going story that is helping us move ever closer to our ultimate goal: a future free from breast cancer.

If you would like to order your own bra bank, please contact our community fundraiser Alison on 01235 534211 or email her at; alison@againstbreastcancer.org.uk

For more information on the work we do, please visit our website at http://www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/

One of our bra banks