Breast cancer kills more women under 50 than any other disease. Lunch4Life is driven by the experience of Lorna Ponti who, with the help of supportive and generous friends, is actively campaigning for improved services and breast awareness.
Lorna feels lucky that her cancer was discovered and treated - a hard journey, but worthwhile. All too many women discover too late because they are too frightened to get tested. These are the people we want to reach.
By supporting the Ashford and St. Peter’s Breast Unit, our aim is to ensure that patients receive high-quality “gold standard” treatment, with state-of-the-art equipment available to allow the unit to deliver the quality treatment we all wish for in breast care.
Thank you to each and every one of you who has attended one of our events, or given support through donations of time, money, auction and raffle prizes. Without you, we would not be able to achieve our goal of a better awareness and treatment of this awful disease.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Lunch4Life has contributed to the purchase of improved mammography equipment to identify problems much earlier than was previously possible, with the added benefit of less pain during the testing process. Many women are discouraged by the discomfort caused when having a mammogram. Reducing the pain of the procedure will encourage women to be tested to ensure they are free from any trace of the disease.
Lunch4Life donations have enabled the purchase of a hand-held ultrasound machine, used in the preliminary diagnosis of breast lumps, an areola pigmentation machine, a 3D imaging trial machine and equipment used to perform an important diagnostic test called sentinel node biopsy. Lunch4Life has also helped to fund the hiring of a research fellow responsible foranalysing surgical techniques in breast surgery for Ashford & St. Peter’s Breast Unit.Funds raised in 2010 have purchased equipment used by the Unit’s surgeons in breast reconstruction, a Gamma Finder II Cordless Portable Probe, and a Bluetooth Sentinel Node Finder.
The 2011 donation is being used to fund research and to help purchase vital equipment and reagents for investigation into an important breast cancer gene. The study is looking at its presence, and the level of proteins expressed in women who develop breast cancer, with the aim of understanding the implications for treating breast cancer in the future.
We also have supported the following national cancer charities through donations:
2007 – Cancer Research UK
2008 – Macmillan Cancer Support
2009 – Marie Curie Cancer Care
2010 – The Prostate Cancer Charity
2011 – The Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust
2012 - The Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK
