Steven Thrush, the consultant breast surgeon who first began pushing for the city unit, said thanks were owed to a generous public for raising so much towards the project in Newtown Road, near Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Worcester.
Mr Thrush said: “In the modern economic climate, this shows the generosity of the people of Worcestershire. We were hoping for more donations from big trusts but it is the public that has brought the majority of the money in.
“We should be saying, ‘thank you Worcestershire’. The public really took this campaign to its heart. The Worcester News has supported us and got the message out. Thank you for the first year – but there’s still a long way to go.”
The Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign has raised around £480,000 and leaders hope to reach the half million mark this month (October) which coincides with breast cancer awareness month.
The bulk of that money, 85 per cent, has come from public donations and more than £9,000 can be directly attributed to Worcester News readers who filled in donation forms printed in your newspaper.
But Carole Crowe, the campaign co-ordinator, said the focus and prominence given to the campaign by your Worcester News, which adopted the campaign before its official launch, meant we had in reality helped secure far more funds than this, raising the profile of the campaign and highlighting individual fundraising efforts, including bike rides, sky dives, charity balls, dinners, sponsored walks and gruelling epic fundraisers like the Three Peaks Challenge in which Mr Thrush personally took part.
The campaign was launched last October with a revealing but tasteful calendar featuring women who had battled breast cancer, including Susie Coleman, 32, of Warndon Villages who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of just 26.
A widower, Eddie Jones, of Eliot Road, Perdiswell cycled 326 miles through Vietnam and Cambodia in memory of his late wife, Tina Clackson-Jones who battled breast and died last July of secondary cancer, raising thousands for the campaign.
A Worcester GP - Dr Bill Bellamy - cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats at the northern tip of the Scottish mainland on a tandem, raising more than £3,000.
Upton Surgery alone has raised £10,000 and the University of Worcester has given £4,000.
The launch of pink ‘bags for life’ in April at Worcester’s Tesco store have so far provided a £20,000 boost to the campaign and have become so popular that charity bosses have arranged for them to go out to 50 stores outside Worcestershire.
Campaign co-ordinator Carole Crowe said the bags had become fashion accessories as well as fundraisers and she hoped they would be bought as Christmas presents this year.
Because of reforms in the NHS Mr Thrush said there would now be breast screening provided at the new unit and the age range of women eligible for screening will be extended from the existing age range (49 to 69 years) to all women aged between 47 and 73.
Mr Thrush said he hoped this would increase the survival rate for those diagnosed with breast cancer which is already above the national average.
The unit will have dedicated parking spaces to reduce stress for patients and Mr Thrush says patients may only have to visit the unit once rather than two or three times because it will provide more comprehensive, streamlined services rather than services spread out through the main hospital.
There will be around six consultants based at the unit when it is finished and it will include complementary therapies.
The aim of the unit is to create a ‘one-stop shop’ with a wide range of services all under one roof with better privacy and dignity for patients.
The unit has been developed with input from patients, their families and clinicians and advice has been sought from leaders at other breast units to try and create the best service possible.
Mr Thrush hopes it will be the first green breast unit in the country with solar panels and will make use of recycled rain water.
One in three women with need to see a breast consultant at some point in their life and their are 500 people diagnosed with breast cancer in Worcestershire every year, of which one in around every hundred cases are men.
If you are interested in volunteering or have fundraising ideas email carole@everybodyknows.co.uk or for more information visit everybodyknowssomebody.co.uk
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