Appeal is in the pink

EACH year, thousands of women visit Oldham’s Victoria Breast Care Unit to undergo tests to find out if they have cancer.

The vast majority will be given the all clear, but for everyone who walks over the threshold for tests the traumatic wait for the results is made all the more difficult by overcrowded conditions.

Reporter Marina Berry takes a look at the way organisers have tried to improve things

HOW do you transform cramped, unsuitable surroundings into a more welcoming space?
Add a £60,000 conservatory funded by an appeal, that’s how.

Appeal Link4Pink was launched last July and isn’t far short of its target.

The Victoria unit, in the grounds of the Royal Oldham Hospital, was converted from an old porters’ lodge, meeting rooms and outpatient clinics.

It can only be described as cramped, and it is not unusual to find standing room only — a situation staff have long considered intolerable.

The unit is headed by consultant breast surgeon Maria Bramley, and she and her colleagues put their heads together to find a way to ease the pressure.

The surgeon’s idea was not only to make the unit bigger, but to create a light and airy space, where people had the opportunity to sit, talk and help themselves to refreshments.

The appeal kicked off when Miss Bramley threw out a challenge for people to join her on a fundraising “Pink Promenade” walk around Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough.

The cause caught the imagination of generous Oldhamers who responded to her plea for help, and fundraisers ran everything from pink balls and pink tea parties to headshaves and gruelling cycle rides to boost the fund.

Now, six months later, the appeal is less than £9,000 short of its target, thanks to a £31,925 boost sanctioned by Miss Bramley’s fellow breast surgeon, Ian McIntosh.

Mr McIntosh raided his patients’ endowment fund to make the gift, and push the appeal closer to its target.

The money came from donations from grateful patients and their family and friends, who wanted to make a difference to the care of people battling breast cancer.

Mr McIntosh explained: “There was a general consensus of opinion among some of the people who donated money that it should go to the Link4Pink appeal.”

Saddleworth Ladies Fundraising Committee donated several thousand pounds to his endowment fund, as did EN Fundraising.

Friends Elaine Norcross and Elizabeth Norbury together make up EN Fundraising, named after their initials.

Elaine is a former chairman of Saddleworth Ladies Fundraising Committee and decided to dedicate her personal fundraising efforts to the Victoria Breast Care Unit after facing her own battle against breast cancer.

She was diagnosed eight years ago, before the unit opened.

“It would have been so nice for me if there had been a one-stop clinic like the Victoria Unit then,” she said.

I was all over the place for tests and treatment.”

Elaine added: “My heart is very close to the Victoria Unit because of my own experience with breast cancer.

“It is the most amazing thing for Oldham. It’s brilliant, and I think every hospital should have a unit like it.”

The 51-year-old pilates teacher, who lives in Grasscroft, added: “I’m sure every family has been touched by breast cancer, and I decided I wanted to do something for the unit.

“Elizabeth said she would help me, and it all went from there.”

A grateful Mr McIntosh explained: “The conservatory is an excellent idea, and will make the unit much better for patients.”

The surgeon is spearheading a New Year push to bring in the rest of the money, and said: “We would like to get it up and running as soon as possible.

“The unit is so cramped, some people who are dressed in gowns have to wait in the general waiting area with everyone else, because there just isn’t the room to screen off a separate area.”

Organisers behind Link4Pink have now decided to keep the appeal running after the conservatory is built.

It will become the foundation for a fundraising arm linked to the unit which will provide ongoing support for its work against breast cancer.

EN Fundraising’s next money-spinning venture is on Sunday, March 15, at the White Hart, Lydgate.

It is a Ladies Day, and involves a fashion show, which Elaine said will become an annual event in aid of Link4Pink.

Consultant breast surgeon Miss Bramley joined the Royal Oldham Hospital in 2007.

She is widely recognised as a leader in her field, and it is her difficult task to break the devastating news to women that they have breast cancer.

She told the Chronicle: “Breast cancer is always treatable, and we aim to do what we can under one roof — here at the Victoria Breast Care Unit.”

Miss Bramley is keen to get the message across to women that they should go for screening when they are invited.

“Screening can pick up cancer before a lump or other symptoms are noticed,” she said.

She also encourages women to know with their own bodies, to check themselves, and speak to their GP if they notice anything unusual.