Meet the Wakefield woman supporting women with breast cancer in Leeds and across Yorkshire

The year was 2015 and Rachel’s ordeal was behind her, although post-recovery life was not something she found easy. “When I finished my chemotherapy, it was a case of getting on with the rest of my life. I said to my husband 'how am I supposed to do that?',” she said. “It never leaves you and as soon as your treatment's finished it's like 'what's just happened to me?'. Then, it hits you. As you're going through your treatments, your mind is taken over by your illness, your chemotherapy, your radiotherapy, your mastectomies. All of a sudden, that just stops and you're wondering what's just happened.”

Having experienced the hardship of breast cancer herself, she channelled her energy into rallying around others with experiences of the illness. She set up the Pontefract and District Breast Cancer Support Group, creating a community to ensure nobody would suffer alone.

“You need the help and support and we're all here in this group to support one another,” she said. “It's a fantastic group, it really is. There's not many groups out there so I try grab as many ladies as I can. Ladies walk through the door and it's like 'crikey, why wasn't I coming here months ago or years ago?'.”

The group meet up for coffee mornings, although there is no pressure on anyone to actually talk about breast cancer – it is simply just a community for collaboration and communication. Seven women turned up to the first meeting back in 2015 and the group has expanded rapidly since.

"Seven ladies turned up to the first meeting and it's grown ever since,” she explained. “We meet once a month, we have 300 ladies under the wing now. It is a group but we don't sit in a circle saying 'my name is'. We don't do any of that.

"We have a coffee morning and if you want to talk about it, you can. As soon as the ladies walk in that room, we all click because we all know what we have been through. I do lots of funding for them, once a year we go to Scarborough, we're having a Christmas meal. I also go and sit with ladies on the ward as they have chemotherapy and support them in that way. I meet them for a coffee just to put their mind at ease because obviously, I've been through it. I've experienced it. I just absolutely love what I do.

"I'm bombarded with questions and if I can't answer the questions, there are other ladies in the group that can answer the questions because there's that many different types of breast cancer. I know I'm well appreciated, I'm like their guardian angel.”

Such is her commitment to the community, she has donated a bell to the oncology ward at Pontefract Hospital that can be rung when a person’s treatment is complete. Her group attracts people from across Yorkshire, including Leeds and Wakefield. Rachel estimates she has had 100 people involved with the group during this calendar year alone and insists the majority have been in their 30s. Regardless of age, Rachel is on hand to be a companion in a time of need.

"My life has been taken over by the group, going on to wards, visiting ladies in houses, having cafe meet ups,” she said. “It's a fantastic group, it really is. There's not many groups out there so I try grab as many ladies as I can. Next year, we're looking at weekends away. They deserve everything in the world, bless them. It's a scary time when you have that horrible C world.”