Breast Cancer Appeal marks ten years of dedicated fundraising

GENEROUS charity fundraisers have been thanked for their decade of support to improve cancer treatment in Suffolk.

Sylvia Byham, from Great Cornard, set up the Sudbury Breast Cancer Appeal after she was diagnosed with the disease in 2000.

Since then the charity has donated more than �52,000 to the oncology department at Ipswich Hospital - providing vital extra funding for new cancer treatment facilities.

At a presentation ceremony for a further �2,000 from the charity, which took place at Hill Lodge Hotel, in Sudbury, on Saturday, she said: “The warmth and generosity of the people of this town never fails to amaze me. This is a very special day for everyone here and I cannot thank you enough for all the support you have given over the last ten years.

“All the money raised has made a massive difference to the brilliant work Ipswich Hospital do for women suffering with breast cancer.”

Hayley James, head of radiotherapy physics at Ipswich Hospital, said the money had been put towards more innovative equipment to improve radiotherapy techniques.

“It’s absolutely invaluable to us to have this sort of support,” she said. “2011 is the Year of Radiotherapy and although we have seen a �2million investment at the hospital which will allow us to get a brand new radiotherapy treatment machine up and running by the summer, the extra money makes a huge difference.”

She said the money from the Breast Cancer Appeal would fund a machine to control heart and breathing variations in the body so that radiotherapy treatment on tumours could be more efficient

John Sayers, a town, district and county councillor, who has supported the charity for many years said the money raised over the last decade was a credit to everyone involved.

He said: “We are in difficult financial times at the moment, so to see so much money still being donated to such worthy causes is wonderful and a great credit to the community spirit of the people for Sudbury and surrounding area.”

Breast cancer is by far the commonest cancer in women in the UK accounting for 31% of all cases in women.

The next most common cancer in women is lung cancer at 12% - according to 2008 figures.

Cancer Research UK says that the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is 1 in 1,014 for men and 1 in 8 for women in the UK. For more information go to www.cancerresearchuk.org.