Sarah will deliver a handwritten version of the letter to the Prime Minister later on Wednesday
A Co Fermanagh teenager has issued a heartbreaking plea to the Prime Minister of the UK to help her mother, who is battling one of the most prevalent, but insufficiently funded types of cancer.
Sarah Flanagan, 13, will stand with her mother, Martina Flanagan, 46, from Ballinamallard, alongside 22 women from across the UK, standing in silence at Westminster today, Wednesday, April 22, to symbolise the 22 women diagnosed daily with lobular breast cancer.
Martina’s 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, has penned a letter to the Prime Minister demanding urgent research into a disease that has left her mother in relentless pain and compelled her to give up her teaching career. Sarah will hand-deliver the letter to Downing Street.
Diagnosed last year with stage 4 metastatic lobular breast cancer, Martina’s condition has spread to her lymph nodes and bones. At the time, her three children were just 8, 10 and 11. She now faces the daily uncertainty of living with an incurable illness.
Approximately 8,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with lobular breast cancer annually – representing around one in seven breast cancer cases – making it the second most prevalent form of the disease. Despite this, campaigners argue it receives no dedicated government funding for research.
13-year-old Sarah Flanagan will deliver a handwritten version of the letter below to the Prime Minister on Wednesday, April 22, where she outlines the need for research into lobular breast cancer and the need for treatments to help her mother and others like her.
Here’s what Sarah had to say:
Dear Prime Minister,
My name is Sarah, I am 13. I live with my Mummy, Daddy and my two younger brothers. They mean a lot to me, I love them very much.
Last year, after going on holiday, we found out that my mummy had Stage 4 lobular breast cancer. I wasn’t sure how to feel about this, but I was aware that it was very serious. It has affected my entire family in many ways. It has been hard to watch my mummy go from going to her job as a teacher every day with a smile on her face, to not being able to get through a full day without having to go back to bed. My mummy is tired a lot of the time and has pain in her bones. This has been extremely upsetting for us all.
Though my mummy is trying to make a difference. For months, she has been telling me about the Lobular Moon Shot Project, which is based on trying to get money to fund research because lobular breast cancer doesn’t have a specific treatment. This means a lot to me, because I want my mummy to be able to spend more time with my family and for other children not to feel the same uncertainty and stress I felt when I found out my mummy was sick.
Please could you support funding for research into lobular breast cancer? It could save lives, give families more time together and bring hope to people going through the same thing as my mummy.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my letter.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Flanagan.
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