Horsham cancer campaign group in fresh bid for vital Government funding

The campaign was founded two years ago by a Horsham doctor who has herself been diagnosed with the disease – lobular breast cancer – and it has now won support nationally from 353 MPs.

But the campaign – known as the Lobular Moon Shot Project and launched by Dr Susan Michaelis – has so far failed to gain approval from Health Secretary Wes Streeting, despite being given the go ahead last year by previous health secretary Victoria Atkins.

The project is seeking £20 million in Government funding for research into the cancer – the second most common type of breast cancer that rarely shows on mammograms and which has no specific treatment. It often doesn’t form a lump but grows through tissue like a spider’s web and is difficult to see on imaging.

The money will support a vital five-year Lobular Breast Cancer Research Project which will be carried out at the Manchester Breast Centre led by Professor Rob Clarke. There is currently no specific treatment for the cancer despite the fact that 22 women are diagnosed with it in the UK every day.

A silent vigil is now to be held outside Downing Street on June 24 at 3pm when 22 women who have been diagnosed with lobular breast cancer will stand silently for 22 minutes in solidarity with the 22 women who will be diagnosed with lobular breast cancer that day in the UK – and every day. They will be joined by a number of MPs.

Meanwhile, Fact Not Fiction Films has made a documentary film about the campaign, ‘Our Journey with Lobular Breast Cancer’, which will premiere on the same day at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival in London.