Ladies fighting breast cancer

After wearing all things pink and looking absolutely fabulous, staff from Bromsgrove based Converged Solutions Limited (CSL) were delighted to have raised £150 for local charity ‘Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer’ as part of this year’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.

Money was donated by CSL’s office staff, onsite project managers and engineering teams. CSL’s administration manager and event organiser, Sarah Martin, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and once again in 2005. “It’s been an uphill struggle at times and I personally understand the impact breast cancer can have on the individual and on the whole family.

“Supporting a local charity such as Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer is our way of directly supporting local women. Donations came from CSL staff but also from our local postman, Andy, who gave us a donation which was lovely.”

All monies raised by the charity will be used directly to buy equipment for the Breast Cancer Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer was originally formed in 2000 by Sue MacMaster and Veronica Kennedy, who had lost their good friend Carol Knaggs to breast cancer. Sue, who had also suffered from breast cancer, had been involved in fundraising for the Queen Elizabeth. She and Veronica set up the charity in order to continue raising money for the Breast Cancer Centre at the Queen Elizabeth.

Since then, thanks to all the money raised by Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer, the centre has been able to purchase a large amount of medical equipment facilitating faster and more accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment, including a £70,000 mobile breast-screening unit for use by the South Birmingham Breast Screen Service, which is attached to the hospital.

Said Sarah: “It only takes a few people to make a real difference.”

The UK’s official statistics for breast cancer diagnosis is currently over 42,000 new cases per year and with over 17,000 calls made to the charities free helpline last year, CSL staff have already made a commitment to do it all again next year.