Kathryn's story

Mum had a mastectomy and needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy after her surgery. Thankfully she’s been in remission since 2019.

My family are all very close and my mum’s the centre of it. She’s always looking after all of us and making sure we’re all OK, so her being diagnosed was a huge shock to all of us. We just wanted to know what we could do to help and look after her to make sure she would be OK.

That’s when I found Breast Cancer Now, and the information and support was amazing

The treatment mum received was all down to the lifesaving research that Breast Cancer Now supports. I just felt I needed to do something to help and support such an amazing charity. I feel we are stepping closer and closer to saving more lives with their help.

So, the fundraising ideas started…

I have 2 daughters, Faye and Lilly, and they’ve been my little sidekicks since I started raising money through Wear It Pink. Every year we’ve tried to come up with different ways to raise money.

The first year, we had a cake sale followed by a big party in a tent in my garden. The girls and my mum were in the middle of the dance floor the whole night – who said chemotherapy might slow you down mum?!

After this I knew I wanted to do something every October to support the charity.

The following years consisted of raffles and bake sales.

Then in 2022, my daughters – aged 9 and 7 – decided to draw 100 pictures and raffle them

It took them hours but it kept them quiet! They sold each picture for £1 and then picked 3 at random and those picked won a bottle of fizz. The next couple of years there were more raffles and drawings, and even a treasure hunt!

In 2025, we decided to go big with the help of my sisters, Claire and Jenny (and mum by our side of course). We hired a hall, turned it pink and had a huge party night. We had 170 of our closest friends, family and all our children there. We had dancing, games, a raffle and more dancing!

Every year I’m so overwhelmed by the generosity of people

As soon as I mention Wear It Pink or breast cancer, people instantly ask how they can support or donate. On the night of the party, I couldn’t believe how many people came up to me and told me they had either had breast cancer themselves, or someone close to them had. It was unbelievable and it made me realise how many people Wear It Pink could be helping.

The night raised £3,203.25 and was a fabulous party. Now we just have to think how can we top that for 2026!

I want to share my story as it’s a positive story, that I know we’re very lucky to be able to tell

I’m grateful every day that my lovely mum is with us and will be forever grateful her treatment was a success. So thank you Breast Cancer Now, for all that you do to raise funds for life-saving research and life-changing support.

My top tips for Wear It Pink:

1. Have fun
   We always think of things that we enjoy doing, this way the fun begins from the minute we start planning right through to Wear It Pink day! Whenever I’ve done an event, I try to make it as fun and exciting as possible and try to get as many people involved.
2. Spread the word
   From small picture raffles to the huge party this year, everything we did we shared with friends and family along the way. This seemed to get people interested in helping with fundraising and raising more awareness about breast cancer and how Breast Cancer Now helps people.
3. Ask for help
   All of our events have been a team effort each year. We had family helping with the organising and also sharing the events with their friends to spread the word!