Breast cancer charity awarded funding to help women in Newham

Breast cancer support charity, Cancerkin[1], has been awarded a grant of £9,915 from the Big Lottery Fund[2] Awards for All scheme to provide support a unique support service for women with breast cancer in Newham.

The grant will help provide complimentary therapies such as yoga, dance, art, pilates and massage to patients receiving treatment for breast cancer as well as supporting the overall running costs and sustainability of the project.

Cancerkin’s work in Newham is aimed at giving women with breast cancer access to the services that Cancerkin provides at its centre which is attached to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. Cancerkin provides 16 complementary therapies as well as giving patients information about the care and management of breast cancer.

Victoria Todd, Chief Executive of Cancerkin said:

“We are delighted by this grant. Cancerkin can now further develop its outreach programme. It means that we can pay for patients to come to our sanctuary in Hampstead in addition to taking our restorative therapies to Newham. We can now provide information to women with breast cancer in Newham which is relevant and focussed on their needs. It also enables us to invest in skills for the future funding of our work in the East End of London.”

Cancerkin works collaboratively with local community and health groups and with local hospitals to ensure that it compliments and does not duplicate their work.

[1] Founded in 1986, Cancerkin was the first dedicated holistic breast cancer charity based on a hospital site (the Royal Free Hospital in North London). All of our services are provided free of charge and we receive no income from the NHS or other statutory bodies. The charity works beyond the scope of the NHS and is concerned with treatment, supportive care, education and research, with the emphasis very much on treatment, care and support, not only of breast cancer patients, but also their families. It was established on the basis that in addition to medical treatment, patients and their families need emotional and practical support through the trauma of diagnosis, treatment and its aftermath; our ethos is very much to treat the patient and not just the cancer. In 2008, Cancerkin gave over 3,100 episodes of care, therapy, information and support, including various complementary therapies, patient support group meetings, Lymphoedema Clinic, drop in information library, courses, lectures and conferences and one to one support. Cancerkin provides all their services free of charge and they receive no income from the NHS or other statutory bodies.

[2] Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme aims to help improve local communities and the lives of people most in need. You can apply to Awards for All only if you are a community group, not for profit group, Parish or Town Council, health body, or school. Grants ranging from £300 to £10,000 are available to fund a specific project or activity. The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.

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