A CANCER sufferer was determined to help with a campaign to raise awareness of the disease despite undergoing treatment at the time.
Sarah Mendoza, 42, who is being treated for breast cancer for the second time, helped organise and spoke at a recent Touch, Look, Check (TLC) event, organised by charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer at Ealing Leisure Centre.
The event aimed to highlight the symptoms of the disease and improve the take-up of services.
Sarah, who first discovered a lump in 2009 and then again last year, chatted to visitors and encouraged them to seek help – only hours before going for treatment the same night.
The mum of one from Northolt said: “My astuteness and persistence to find out paid off and I got the right treatment. It’s down to you. You are in charge of your own body. It’s your life. You discover it and the doctors and machines confirm it. TLC is about having a MOT. I am a prime example of catching it in time.”
She said she spoke to one woman who expressed concern but ignored her fears.
She said: “Her husband, who was with her, had no idea, so I encouraged her to see her GP. If I have got through to one woman then it’s been a successful day.”
Theresa Hitching, a breast cancer survivor and patient representative for Breakthrough Breast Cancer at Ealing Hospital, nominated Sarah.
She said: “Sarah helped arrange a recent Breakthrough Breast Cancer TLC event in spite of receiving chemotherapy and then radiotherapy at the time. She was always determined to be present at the occasion and persuaded MP Steve Pound to also attend. She is amazing.”
