BRCA Kent News

16th January 2020

Maidstone Dawn Patrol Rotary Club

We were delighted when BRCA Kent was chosen as one of the beneficiaries this year. Liz and Jo went along and presented all about BRCA KENT to the board and were thrilled to be awarded with a cheque for £500. It will help continue to support women and raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals.

13th November 2019

We were very lucky to have Aishling Burke, a Women's Health Physiotherapist from Restore Physiotherapy in Tonbridge, come along to talk to us at our meeting in November.

Aishling gave us lots of useful information and tips on pre and post surgical exercises and was full of passion and enthusiasm for this fascinating topic. She also told us how to prepare ourselves for any surgery mentally as well as physically, and how our bodies might respond afterwards. This is the first time that we have been lucky enough to have an expert in this field, and we do hope we get the chance to catch up with Aishling again.

Check the useful links page for her website details!

24th October 2019

John Lewis at Bluewater

A big thank you once again to John Lewis for inviting our members to their Pampering/Lingerie Event. There were mini treatments for all to enjoy and sample perfumes/make-up to take away - all enjoyed over delicious cakes and tea! It was also a great opportunity for us to meet other local support groups and find some new members! Thank you to Christine Burnett and Jeanette Turrell for being such wonderful models, you look amazing! Looking forward to next years event already!

11th September 2019

Elizabeth attended The British Menopause Society's Women's Health Meeting today at Brands Hatch, where she spoke on her experiences of going through a surgically-induced early menopause. The audience was made up of hospital doctors, GPs and nurse practitioners, who all have an interest in the management of an early menopause. Thank you Miss Anne Henderson and The British Menopause Society for the invite.

10th September 2019

Thank you Whitehead Monckton!

We are delighted to say that we have been successful in a grant application from The Whitehead Monckton Charitable Foundation for £1000. This will help us continue to run our wonderful support group, paying for refreshments at meetings, guest speakers, hospital bags, leaflets, business cards and our website fee.

21st May 2019

Breast Awareness Evening

A huge thank you to Miss Deepika Akolekar, Consultant Breast and Oncoplastic Surgeon, for giving us a very informative and interesting talk on breast awareness and breast examination techniques this evening. This is the first time that the group has had a talk on this very important topic and it was a brilliant turnout. It was fantastic to be able to have the opportunity to ‘practice’ both on a prosthesis breast and also on a real one too (thank you Elizabeth Leech for modelling). A big thank you to GenesisCare in West Malling for hosting this great event in such a friendly and welcoming environment.

27th April 2019

BRCA KENT ladies attended the Women's Cancer Genetics Meeting at KIMS Hospital today, to help promote our group. It was lovely to be able to support our wonderful consultants who look after us so well and be part of this invaluable and informative GP event.

Left to Right - Mr Haresh Devalia, Natalie Savage, Mr Mohsin Dani, Hayley Wright and Miss Anne Henderson.

12th March 2019

We were all feeling relaxed after our guest speaker Jane Pantony. Jane is a wellbeing consultant working with Penny Brohn UK. She spoke to us about the amazing work that this charity does to help restore some balance back to people undergoing cancer treatments. After discussing types of therapy such as reflexology, mindfulness and acupuncture, we all participated in a visualisation therapy. Thank you to Jane for taking the time to come and speak to us.

17th October 2018

A very big thank you to Anita Ralph from The Medicine Tree Herbal Centre for a fascinating talk on herbal medicines. It was especially interesting to actually taste some of the wonderful products produced by Anita. She runs two clinics; one in West Malling and the other in Canterbury.

5th October 2018

BRCA Kent attended the Genetics Seminar at Maidstone Hospital today. It was an opportunity to see some of the surgeons who regularly support us, as well as catching up with the Breast Care Specialist Nurses in our region. It’s so important to take a multi disciplinary team approach, to get the best for us, the patients. BRCA Kent work hard to help spread awareness alongside the support groups.

10 hrs

4th October 2018

Elizabeth Leech and Suzannah Fitzgerald attended the Guy's Hospital - BRCA Update Day. They were busy promoting the group to newly diagnosed ladies from Kent. We are so looking forward to welcoming some new ladies soon. X

6th June 2018

Nipple Tattooing

We were lucky to have Camilla Seton, a wonderfully talented medical tattooist, come to visit our group for this months meeting. It was great to see examples of work she had done and it certainly gave us lots to think about. We had loads of questions for her and she will no doubt be seeing some of us paying her a visit soon! Thank you Camilla. x

14th November 2017

Genes for Jeans day

St Peters Junior School in Broadstairs did a fantastic job fundraising to help support us. A brilliant £288.14! This will help us to continue to fund our website and provide our support materials. A big thank you to all those children.

31st October 2017

BBC Radio Kent

Elizabeth & Jo went along with Jane Warriner from Macmillan to meet host Steve. N. Allen. They pre recorded a short piece on BRCA mutations and the work the lovely BRCA Kent group do to support each other.

BBC Radio Kent (1)
A short clip of Elizabeth and Jo being interviewed for BBC Radio Kent
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QuickTime video format [27.0 MB]

BBC Radio Kent (2)
A short clip of Elizabeth and Jo being interviewed for BBC Radio Kent
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QuickTime video format [40.1 MB]

Click to listen to BRCA Kent at 54 mins 30 secs, 1hr 45 mins and again at 2hrs 26 mins.

26th October 2017

Kent Messenger Gazette

Lovely article in the paper this week about Natalie Savage & her sister Danielle Gawler. Lovely to see a mention of our group and the memory of Caroline Langman.

To read the full article, see the link under "About Us/Natalie"

19th October 2017

John Lewis - Bluewater

Thank you to John Lewis for inviting us to their pamper/lingerie evening with the charity Restore.

Left to right: Claire Shelley (Restore), Caroline Migo (Restore), Susan Buhagiar (John Lewis), Karen Sallnow, Sarah Hopper, Jeanette Turell and Elizabeth Leech.

18th October 2017

House of Commons - Ovarian Cancer Action

Elizabeth & Jo were lucky enough to be invited to the House of Commons for the launch of the report “Acting on BRCA: Breaking down barriers to save lives. It was great to hear they are aiming to assess every woman with Ovarian Cancer for a BRCA mutation. It could save 1000 extra lives per year. Also to change protocols for future generations to access BRCA testing.

October 2017

GP Event at KIMS Hospital

BRCA Kent attended the GP Update Event at KIMS Hospital. We are determined to get our message out to everyone!

4th July 2017

Ovarian Cancer Action Event

Ovarian Cancer Action hosted the first UK screening of "Pink & Blue: Colours of Hereditary Cancer.

Elizabeth and Suzannah went to this screening in London.

Here they are with Jo Stanford, Cancer Prevention Officer and Katherine Taylor, Chief Executive at Ovarian Cancer Action.

(Left to Right - Suzannah Fitgerald, Elizabeth Leech, Katherine Taylor and Jo Stanford.)

6th July 2017

Guy's Hospital London - BRCA Update Day

Elizabeth looking for Kent Ladies to share our group with. She also bumped into the lovely Caroline Presho from BRCA Umbrella.

6th March 2017

John Lewis - Bluewater

They kindly organised for a group of BRCA Kent ladies to visit them in the lingerie department to discuss and try on post-surgical bras.

17th January 2017

BRCA Kent goodies!

Excited to have received our new merchandise! You will receive a mug, pen and information pack on your first visit to a meeting. If you decide surgery is the best option for you, Elizabeth will be in touch once you have your surgery date. You will then receive a hospital wash bag and goodies to take with you. You never need to feel like you are doing it on your own. x

28th March 2015

Jo is featured on the front page of The Times Weekend Magazine this week. In it she talks about living with the BRCA gene, the effect on her family and making decisions to choose preventative surgery.

To read the full article, see the links under "About Us/Jo"