Henry Smith MP column, Crawley Observer, 21 October 2015
This Friday, 23rd October, I will be taking part in Wear It Pink – the flagship fundraiser for Breast Cancer Now.
Across the country, around 50,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each day, and sadly nearly 12,000 women still lose their lives.
I’m pleased to stand up for women and families affected by the disease, and I’m proud to join around 200 other MPs and support Breast Cancer Now as a Breast Cancer Ambassador.
Figures from Breast Cancer Now show that on average, 69 women in our town are diagnosed with breast cancer annually. Sadly, 17 women from Crawley die from breast cancer each year.
Breast Cancer Now was launched in June 2015 following a merger between Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
The organisation’s ambition is to make sure that no one dies from breast cancer by 2050.
The Wear It Pink campaign is in its 14th year, and raises over £2 million annually for world-class research into breast cancer.
Breast Cancer Now supports around 450 of the world’s brightest researchers at more than 20 locations in the UK and Ireland.
They continue to work to discover how to prevent breast cancer, how to detect it earlier, and how to treat it effectively at every stage so we can stop the disease taking lives.
Breast cancer is still the most common cancer in this country. Almost 700,000 people living in the UK have experienced a diagnosis, and one in eight women will face it in their lifetime. This year alone, more than 50,000 women will be told they have the disease.
Next month, the House of Commons will debate the Off-Patent Drugs Bill.
The Bill looks to remove barriers to low-cost, effective treatments being repurposed and made available to people who need them.
This legislation would improve access to low-cost treatments for a range of conditions including breast cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s.
I'm pleased to support this Bill; it's vital that politicians from all sides of the House of Commons work together.
For more information about Wear It Pink, please visit: www.wearitpink.org. To visit the website of Breast Cancer Now, please go to: www.breastcancernow.org
If you'd like to find out more, and would like speak to someone, please call Breast Cancer Now’s Freephone Supporter Engagement team on: 0333 20 70 300.
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Henry Smith MP will Wear It Pink!
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