We are Michelle Hull, 49, Gill Hardy, 41, Hellen Baker, 46, Marie Bryan, 53, Kathryn Short, 46, Catherine Loft, 72, Sally Thompson,55, Fiona Osmaston, 57, Denise Holgate, 54, and Wendy Deane, 63, and together we are - Dare 2, which is a group of local ladies who have all received a breast cancer diagnosis.

After what we’ve all been through, we try not to ‘sweat’ the small stuff, we have fun and live life to the full – life is for living therefore we want to show everyone that there is life after cancer. It’s a different life but can also be a good one.

Having all been treated at The Primrose breast care centre, collectively we decided we wanted to give something back to this amazing service and so in 2018 Michelle, Hellen, Marie, Kathryn, Catherine, Sally, Fiona, Denise along with our dear friend Joan Camp who has since moved back home to be with her family in Ireland, dared to bare which raised £13k and then in 2019 we dared to Burlesque which raised another £10k so in total, we have already raised an outstanding £23,000 for The Primrose foundation.

We are incredibly proud of our achievements, but we aren’t stopping there as we now have two new members of the group and this time in October 2022 (breast cancer awareness month) we are daring to dance, but what dance? All will be revealed in the night.

We wanted to give something back to Primrose as it’s here that all our journeys started and most likely saved our lives too. Having previously worked with The Primrose Foundation we know that whatever monies we raise are put right back into our local breast care services which is really important to us all.

It was thanks to our fundraising efforts that the Primrose centre has its very own quiet room, we also helped to fund a part-time Clinical Psychologist as well as a training bursary for the Plastic reconstructive team, all of which we are very proud to support. It was always important to all of us that we were kept engaged and consulted on how the funds we raised were spent, therefore we want to continue our fundraising support so that The Primrose Foundation can continue to do all the amazing work they do.

Here is a little bit more information about each of us:

Michelle Hull

Michelle was diagnosed at 41 with stage 3 aggressive breast cancer, triple-negative, ductal carcinoma in situ. She underwent a Lumpectomy and received 6 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy followed by 23 radiotherapy sessions. Her treatment finished in May 2015, with clear mammograms since, and no further treatment/medication required.

Gill Hardy

Gill was diagnosed with primary breast cancer at 30, and remains primary, Herceptin & oestrogen positive. She has undergone 5 operations in total to date, 3 of which were under the care of Primrose). She is now 5 years out of treatment.

Hellen Baker

Hellen was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma in the right breast at 37. She had chemo and intense radiotherapy followed by a year of Herceptin injections.

Marie Bryan

Marie was diagnosed at 43 with oestrogen positive breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy, and 5 years on Tamoxifen. She has just received her 1st routine mammogram after turning 50, 3 years ago.

Kathryn Short,

Kathryn was diagnosed just 3 weeks before 40th birthday with stage 2/3 ductal carcinoma plus high-grade DCIS, and HER2 positive. She received 2 types of chemotherapy over 6 sessions and then a mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. This was followed by 15 radiotherapy sessions as well as an Oophorectomy (removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes). She then underwent a right breast reduction to match the left breast. She had to take Herceptin for 1 year, and received 6 zoledronic acrid fusions, plus 6 years of having to take Letrazole, she has 4 years left.

Fiona Osmaston

Fiona was diagnosed at 53 thanks to early screening, she was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma and received a skin-sparing mastectomy. As her cancer was Oestrogen positive, she has to take Anastrazole to inhibit the cancer. Fiona didn’t need chemo or radiotherapy but is still on Anastarzole.

Denise Holgate

Denise was diagnosed at 46 with grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma, where 3 of the tumours were oestrogen positive. She underwent a Mastectomy followed by a lymph node clearance, chemotherapy as well as Radiotherapy. She must continue to take Tamoxifen until 2024.

Wendy Deane

Wendy was diagnosed at 61 with grade 2 ductal carcinoma, she had to have a lumpectomy & lymph node clearance as her cancer was oestrogen positive. She underwent 10 radiotherapy sessions and had to take Anastrazole for 10 years, to date she is 1 year complete and has 9 to go.

Sally Thompson

Sally was invited to take part in a trial to invite women to have a mammogram 3 years earlier than the normal age of 50, aged just 47 Sally was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma and required a widespread DCIS because her cancer was 8/8 oestrogen positive. She was told that the cancer would not have presented itself in time to fight it had the mammogram been at 50. She had to have a mastectomy followed by radiotherapy and 15 years of hormone treatment.

Catherine Loft

Catherine was diagnosed at 65 with triple-negative carcinoma, she had to have 2 lumpectomies, however as they didn’t get clear margins she had to have a single mastectomy plus chemotherapy which was followed by 15 sessions of radiotherapy and then reconstruction surgery a year later.

Whilst our stories are all very different our feelings and zest for life are all the same. We are thrivers who want to support and encourage others to know that life does go on after breast cancer.

If you would like to support us then please follow the link below and give what you can as together we are building a better future for those who are about to find themselves heading into the whirlwind that is a breast cancer diagnosis.

A quick update from the Dare 2 ladies - August 2022

We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that has purchased tickets for our Dare 2 dance ball on the 8th October. We are deeply touched by the level of support we continue to receive, especially from our friends and family.

We would also like to thank all the local companies that are sponsoring the ball. To date we are almost halfway there in reaching our table sponsorship and would like to thank the following organisation for their support:

Rockin Bikes, Yelverton
PCS,  Plymouth
Godfrey Short & Squire, Okehampton

Howard & Over, Ivybridge
The Hyde Park Pub, Mutley, Plymouth

DF Bryan Ltd, Peverell, Plymouth

It's great to see so many local companies supporting their local breast care charity.

If you are part of a local company that would like to get involved in supporting this fantastic fundraising event by sponsoring a table please contact Hellen Baker on hellen.baker@nhs.net

Thank you for your support.

Dare 2