A leading breast cancer campaigner came to Winchester (Thursday 3rd July) to speak to young people in the city about the importance of the early detection of breast cancer and other cancers.
Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP Steve Brine organised for 28-year old Kris Hallenga, who has a terminal diagnosis of secondary breast cancer, to bring her charity CoppaFeel to all three secondary schools in the city.
Kris and her team of 'boobettes' are on a mission to stamp out late detection of breast cancer and used the visit to launch their #rethink cancer campaign which aims to see schools routinely teach young people about the signs and symptoms of cancer as part of the PSHE syllabus. They recently took their campaign to Westminster where Mr Brine hosted a reception for MPs to put the issue on Ministers' agenda.
The day began at The Westgate School where they spoke to 240 Year 10 pupils and moved onto The Kings School where some 330 students from year 9 saw the presentation. They finished at Henry Beaufort School addressing around 75 Year 10 students. All were mixed sessions as men can get breast cancer too.
Mr Brine also arranged for the group to have a lunch meeting at the University of Winchester hosted by Vice Chancellor Prof Joy Carter. Kris and her team met with members from the faculty of Education and the Students' Union about their charity and the #rethink cancer agenda and a pilot scheme with trainee teachers will be developed with the University for, what is hoped will be a national roll-out in due course.
Speaking directly after the tour of Winchester city schools, Kris said: "We've just finished our Winchester day, having taken in all three schools. Today has been amazing and everyone's been so supportive. The young people have been awesome and I think we've done well as they seem to have really taken in what we had to say about cancer and breast cancer. It's been good, really, really good."
Steve Brine, who is co-chair of the All Party Breast Cancer Group in Parliament, added; "This is a subject I feel so passionately about and as soon as I met Kris I wanted to help her and the charity she leads. This day was more than any of us could have hoped for, especially the response from Joy Carter at the University. I hope the young people we met found it interesting and useful and if just one person, or a member of their family, is helped by what we are doing it will be worth it."
Pictured; the team present at Kings, and chat to students as Meridian TV film
More information ...
You can learn more about CoppaFeel! and sign up for text alerts at http://coppafeel.org
You can watch ITV Meridian's news feature here.
Listen back - Steve speaks about the day here