Wear It Pink 2025

It’s that ‘pink’ time again, although in all seriousness, I know that being diagnosed with Breast Cancer isn’t pink or fluffy at all!

Photo credit: Breast Cancer Now

Alt Text: A white-skinned, middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair, sitting in her manual wheelchair in a photographic studio.  She is wearing a pink outfit – a pink trilby hat, pink/brown round glasses, a pink jacket with embroidered flowers and tassels, a pink dress, leopard pink leggings with two white stripes down the side & a pink handbag with a rose flower sewn onto it.  She is smiling.

October is #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth  I’ll never be able to get away from Breast Cancer, through its physical and emotional scarring, it’s with me forever now, & although, understandably, some people go into hiding over this month because they can’t take all the pink & the overwhelmingly sad stories, the infographics, & the adverts, I take the opportunity to up my awareness-raising that #DisabledPeopleGetBreastCancerToo

Breast Cancer Now gave me the opportunity once again to be part of their #WearItPink campaign.  This time they hired wheelchair-accessible studios so I was able to be included in the main public campaign, taking part in the official photo shoot with a mixture of my outfits & their outfits.  Once again, they gave me a new blog to write about the impact that the #WearItPink campaign can have on the general public.  You can read in the Breast Cancer Now website.

Here are some photos of the shoot which took place at Street Studios in East London, UK.  There are some official photos and some backstage ones which were taken by my partner Stephane.  I like modelling so Breast Cancer Now didn’t have to ask me twice when they approached me once again!

Photo credit: Breast Cancer Now

Alt Text: The same woman sitting in her wheelchair in the studio.  She has her hair swept back with a pink diamante clip, a long, pink, fluffy feather boa, a pink metallic sports jacket and a long, pink, pleated skirt.  She is smiling.

Photo credit: Breast Cancer Now

Alt Text: The same woman sitting in her wheelchair, in the same studio.  She is wearing a short, pink, fluffy jacket with black shapes on, a neon pink necklace that spells out ‘SUZ’, a pink t-shirt with a cartoon of Dolly Parton on it – the text says ‘Saint Dolly’ & her hands are together in prayer, & the same leopard print leggings.  She is smiling.

Photo credit: Stephane Cony.

Alt Text: Inside a photographic studio with a tripod on a white floor, & a square area with a grey backdrop & floor, flanked by two, large black screens, & white track-lighting hanging from the ceiling.  The same woman in her wheelchair is inside the square area, in position for the shoot.  She is talking to another woman & a man who are standing just outside the box.  The woman has her dark hair in a ponytail & she is wearing black trousers, pink trainers & a pink t-shirt with ‘Breast Cancer Now’ in white text.  The man has short, dark brown hair, a green checked jacket with a hood, black trousers & black trainers.  He is handing some cards in his hands with questions on them.

To give some context to this photo, I made a little video with Breast Cancer Now for the website & social media, discussing my experience as well as how to maximise your fundraising efforts.

Photo credit: Stephane Cony

Alt Text: The same woman in her manual wheelchair.  She is turning to one side & smiling at the official photographer who is taking her photo from a different angle.  She has a pink diamante clip in her hair & she is wearing a pink, fluffy boa, a metallic pink jacket which is open to saw a pink, mesh sports top, & a long, pleated, pink skirt.

As I’ve said, the start of October has been busy with the #WearItPink campaign & my face with the Breast Cancer Now branding popping up all over social media, & seeing myself included in Breast Cancer Now reels 7 short videos.  But there is a serious side to all of this.

For the last year, I’ve been taking part in PPI – Patient & Public Involvement groups with Imperial College, Imperial NHS & Imperial CRUK.  The meetings are remote or based very close to where I live in West London.  I had no idea just how much emphasis research funding places on ‘lay patients’ & how much they’ve been involved in designing programmes.  There are always lay patients on the funding panel, & researchers have to demonstrate that they’ve worked with patients to design the programme.  PPI carries a lot of funding points.  

There is no data on any disabled people within cancer, no data on most underlying conditions.  That’s why I’ve been struggling to find ways to support myself & to understand the cancer patient experience of people who have Spina Bifida like me.  My plan is to dedicate one of my blogs to exploring the types of programmes & initiatives, like Imperial College’s EDI Kickstarter programme, that I’m involved in.  But for now, I’ll just give you a taster:

Last Friday, I went along to the teaching part of Hammersmith Hospital, West London, to talk with BSc students about my lived experience as a cancer patient.  There were 10 cancer patients there & we had two – three students each.  Obviously my experience is completely mind-bending for everyone, including myself, but my two students took it in their stride & asked some really insightful questions – like how much of an impact has my blog had, what was the most difficult access experience, do you know if you still have a DNR (do not resuscitate) order on you or has that been removed since COVID, what would have changed your cancer experience?  Each student had to present back on what they’d learnt & what had the most impact on them. Mine students said that instead of having 95% happiness with my treatment experience, I should have had 100% as this is what medics should be striving for, & it’s important to treat people as individuals & not assume that they don’t care about their body image.  The lead doctor then asked me to say a little more about my experience & why it was so important for disabled people & people with other health conditions to be part of research, acknowledging that there was a severe lack of data in this area.  I also discussed a feature that I’d recently seen on Channel 4 News about cancer outcomes for people with a learning disability, outcomes which were very poor.  I had also shared the clip with a few medics on the PPI as well as on my instagram with a header saying “This is why I raise awareness about disabled people and cancer too.”  It comes with a big #TriggerWarning (I cried my eyes out when I watched it), but you can view it on Channel 4 News website.

Finally I want to honour a beautiful, loving, funny friend of mine who brought such laughter to Breast Cancer Now’s 2023’s ‘The Show.’  She had to follow me out on the runway & she said ‘don’t go too fast in your wheelchair when we come out as I can walk that fast!”  Of course, with my nerves on the first show, I completely forgot & sped off, leaving her hobbling to keep up!  I apologised profusely but we had a really good laugh about it.

I’m respecting the wishes of her family & friends who didn’t want her passing to be on social media, but I just wanted to wish her well as she goes through one ‘gate’ onto the next.  I’ll miss you forever.

Photo credit: Suzanne Bull MBE

Alt Text: Brick arches covered in greenery & bright, red flowers, with a stone path leading to a green garden with large trees beyond.  The sky is blue with white, fluffy clouds.