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UK’s only metastatic breast cancer patient advocacy charity. Led by patients, for patients. Focused on the unmet needs of people living with MBC.
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#metupuk#metastaticbreastcancer#thiswomanswork#breastcancerawarenessmonth#breastcancerawareness#denovombc#mbcawareness#breastcancerpolicy#breastscreening#mbc
Recent posts
Not everyone diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) has had a previous breast cancer diagnosis. For some, the cancer has already spread by the time it is first discovered. This is known as de novo MBC.
Around 5% of people diagnosed with breast cancer will receive a de novo diagnosis, meaning they have no previous history of primary breast cancer.
In this post, Sue Thomas, METUPUK’s Trustee for Wales, shares her story and helps us understand what a de novo MBC diagnosis means.
Every experience of MBC is different but what is common to each diagnosis of it, is that MBC is treatable, but not curable.
Swipe to learn more about de novo MBC, what it means and how it differs from recurrent MBC which follows on from a primary diagnosis.
Thank you, Sue, for sharing your story. 💜
#DeNovoMBC #MetastaticBreastCancer #MBCAwareness #METUPUK
13 Nov 2026
Last month, METUPUK’s Chair, Laura Ashurst, attended the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Breast Cancer. Chair of the APPG, Clive Jones MP, advocates for improvements in the support of women and men who have had a breast cancer diagnosis, influenced by his own diagnosis of the disease.
Crucial questions formed the basis of the discussion at the APPG meeting:
What does it mean to be at an increased risk of breast cancer?
How can we better support women who have an increased risk?
How should the needs of individuals at increased risk influence the delivery of the breast screening programme in England?
Support is inconsistent across the country. In many NHS Trusts, screening for those at increased risk is not being carried out according to NICE recommendations; there is no single model for risk management in the UK. The dismal fact that only 77 Trusts in England provide family history clinics illustrates how much support is still needed to effectively identify and support individuals at increased risk.
Eleanor Mellor, Family History Lead at Breast Cancer Now and Natalie Haskell, Chief Executive at CoppaFeel! discussed the huge gaps in provision. Inequalities include geographical disparity across family history clinics, regional variations in access to screening, a lack of data on those at increased risk and a lack of recognition of the emotional and psychological impact of individuals living with an increased risk. Naomi Matthams, a patient expert, shared her personal experience of risk reduction surgery.
Thank you to Clive Jones for inviting METUPUK to be part of the conversation. The APPG has pledged to follow up issues raised with the National Cancer Board.
METUPUK is here for everybody diagnosed with MBC, including those whose family members have an increased risk of developing the disease.
#BreastCancerAwareness #BreastCancerPolicy #BreastScreening #MetastaticBreastCancer
11 Nov 2026
October may be over, but for those living with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) the reality doesn’t pause when the pink comes down.
Beyond Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there are still thousands of people navigating treatment, waiting for scan results and living with uncertainty.
Awareness, support and action shouldn’t be limited to one month of the year.
This November, and every month, let’s keep the conversation going, let’s keep showing up and keep making space for those whose stories don’t end on 31 October.
After the pink fades, we are still here. 💗
#MetastaticBreastCancer #MBC #BreastCancerAwareness
09 Nov 2026
Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) means your energy, priorities and needs change from day to day. It’s important that you allow yourself to adjust to those changes.
Self-care can be made simple. Here are some of the things we find helpful:
✨ Protecting your energy and prioritising what matters.
🛋️ Giving yourself permission to rest without guilt.
🤝 Asking for help before things feel overwhelming.
☕ Making time for something that brings you joy.
📱 Taking a break from things that feel draining.
Self-care looks different for everybody. Do what feels right for you.
#MetastaticBreastCancer #SecondaryBreastCancer #MBCCommunity #MBCSupport #SelfCare
05 Nov 2026
Throughout the past year, we have continued to push, question and demand better for people living with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC). We have kept on doing the work Jo started. In our hearts, behind each milestone we have achieved, has been the person who should have been here to see it.
There have been so many times when we have wanted to tell Jo what happened next, to ask her opinion, to celebrate with her and simply to have her here. We have carried Jo’s work with us, but we have missed her throughout it all.
One year on from Jo’s death, we are still here. We are still making our voices heard and refusing to accept that people with MBC deserve anything less than the best of treatment and care.
We will keep going, putting one foot in front of the other as we steadfastly maintain our resolve to carry on with what Jo started.
We will keep on keeping on.
We miss you, Jo.
@abcdiagnosis
#MetastaticBreastCancer #METUPUK
03 Nov 2026
October is over. MBC isn’t.
Even though Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) has finished, people living with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) continue to face treatment, scanxiety, side effects, work, family life and grief every single day. The pinkness of October might have gone for another year but people living with MBC face the reality of their disease every day and every month of every year.
This #SecondsOnThe2nd we are reminding everyone that awareness shouldn’t end when BCAM does.
Trust what doesn’t feel right for you. If a symptom is new, changes or simply doesn’t feel right, ask questions, be persistent. Your concerns deserve to be taken seriously. MBC kills 31 women every day in the UK. Every month, around 961 women and 7 men die from the disease.
Greater awareness of the signs and symptoms of MBC is needed, but also the awareness message about the importance of acting when something doesn’t feel right.
Don’t be afraid to say: “This isn’t normal for me.”
💗 Save this post.
💗 Share it.
💗 It’s crucial that we help keep MBC visible long after October ends.
02 Nov 2026
Today is the final day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM). Over the past few weeks, we have showcased the work of so many incredible women whose professional working life and/or their volunteering work is focused on supporting people with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC).
This Woman’s Work has highlighted roles that often go unseen, work where daily dedication and commitment contributes to helping improve support and care for women and men who are diagnosed with MBC. There is a shared goal amongst each of the women we featured, they are all creating a legacy where now and into the future, the lives of those who are diagnosed with MBC are better supported through research, advocacy and clinical expertise.
There is strength in unity and togetherness and remarkable things happen when a goal is central to helping others. We are honoured that our 2026 BCAM campaign has featured such amazing women.
However, the month has not been without sadness. Throughout October, approximately 961 women and 7 men will have died from MBC in the UK, each one of those people, a much-loved person. At METUPUK, earlier this month, another cherished member of our volunteer team, Naomi Keevil, died. Based in Wales, Naomi was a hugely respected and treasured member of the METUPUK team. She will be missed so much. We were privileged to benefit from her patient advocacy work; we hold her family in our hearts.
Thank you to everybody who has supported This Woman’s Work. By sharing our posts and engaging with them you have helped enormously to raise awareness of this disease. You have helped to make sure we are visible.
Thanks also to my twin sister, Elizabeth Carling. Your voice brought one of Jo’s favourite songs to life, in a way that was a special honouring of Jo and METUPUK.
Until next BCAM and beyond, we will continue to represent the patient voice, advocating, campaigning and working together as a team. This Woman’s Work is never done.
Laura Ashurst
METUPUK Chair
31 Oct 2026
During our filming day at Breast Cancer Now HQ, we surprised Claire by presenting her with an award: The Mary Huckle Outstanding Contribution to Leadership and Impact within the Breast Cancer Charity Sector. This award was created to honour the memory of Mary Huckle @maryhuckle. Her brilliant campaigning and patient advocacy work was tireless. Mary volunteered for Breast Cancer Now and METUPUK, charities that meant a great deal to her.
It is fitting that the recipient of this award is Claire.
Several weeks before she died, Mary took part in the 2023 Breast Cancer Now fashion show. The iconic photograph of Mary wearing the ‘red dress’ on the Breast Cancer Now catwalk is imprinted in our hearts. Her determination to help change the landscape for people diagnosed with MBC is a quality we see in Claire.
Thank you, Claire, for your work. Your leadership is helping to change lives.
@breastcancernow
#BreastCancerNow #METUPUK #zMetastaticBreastCancer #Award
30 Oct 2026
For Sarah Adomah, awareness means more than knowing that Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) exists. It means understanding what it is actually like to live with an incurable but treatable disease.
As Lead Breast Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Royal Marsden NHS Trust, Sarah has seen how cultural beliefs, stigma and misconceptions around cancer can create fear and silence, becoming barriers to people seeking the support and care they need.
Her message is clear: listen to patients and take their concerns seriously.
MBC can develop many years, even decades, after a primary breast cancer diagnosis. Sarah wants greater awareness of this possibility among both patients and GPs, so that potential red-flag symptoms are recognised and not dismissed.
For Sarah, this work is about challenging myths, breaking down barriers and empowering people to ask questions about their health and their care.
Thank you, Sarah, for being part of This Woman’s Work, for challenging stigma and for making sure the voices and concerns of people living with MBC are heard.
#ThisWomansWork #METUPUK#BreastCancerAwarenessMonth
29 Oct 2026
“Please take patients’ concerns seriously following a breast cancer diagnosis.”
These are words that come from a perspective informed by professional expertise and lived experience. As a clinical scientist in radiotherapy, Rachel’s work focuses on how radiotherapy treatment can be delivered effectively to patients while protecting healthy organs and minimising side effects.
At 44, Rachel then became a breast cancer patient herself. Her diagnosis brought a new dimension to understanding breast cancer: the ongoing treatment of the disease, treatment of side effects, and the possibility that Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) can develop many years after primary disease. It also changed her understanding of palliative radiotherapy in that palliative does not necessarily mean end-of-life. Palliative treatment for MBC can be about controlling the disease, relieving symptoms, and protecting quality of life.
Rachel knows it is imperative that patients and healthcare professionals are aware of the red flags of MBC and that crucially, even though a primary diagnosis might have happened many years earlier, red flag symptoms should not be dismissed.
Fear is not a reason to remain unaware. Awareness creates knowledge, recognition, and empowers action.
#ThisWomansWork #METUPUK#BreastCancerAwarenessMonth
28 Oct 2026
This Woman’s Work: Karen Graham
When we talk about Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC), the focus is often on treatments and research but in order to effectively plan for the allocation of services and resources, patients must first be counted to ensure an accurate picture is captured of the numbers of patients needing support and care.
As Head of Data Improvement at NHS England’s National Disease Registration Service, Karen Graham has dedicated her career to improving the quality and completeness of cancer data. She understands that every data record captures a personal story; a human being who matters.
In this interview, Karen reflects on the legacy of METUPUK founder Jo Taylor (@abcdiagnosis) whose determination to improve MBC data helped shape the data collection movement within MBC today. She shares why accurately identifying and recording people living with MBC is essential for visibility, service provision, research and ultimately better outcomes. Karen is committed to spreading this message: if we want to improve the lives of people living with MBC, we must first ensure they are counted.
Jo Taylor campaigned for over a decade, pushing for the principle that people living with MBC deserve to be counted when alive not dead. As December approaches and the Government’s promised recurrence data reporting comes into focus, there is renewed hope that the path to understanding, visibility and better outcomes is becoming clearer.
Karen is making sure that every patient counts.
#ThisWomansWork #METUPUK #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth.
27 Oct 2026
This Woman’s Work: Ashley Dalton MP
Some of the most important work in Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) happens far beyond the hospital. It happens wherever decisions are made about research, services, policy and data.
As a Member of Parliament and cancer advocate, Ashley Dalton MP has been a powerful supporter of the MBC community, recognising that meaningful change starts with listening to patients and understanding their experiences. Ashley knows first-hand what it means to live with MBC. Following her own diagnosis, she has continued to use her voice and platform to advocate for people affected by cancer, bringing lived experience into conversations that shape policy and care. Her openness about living with incurable breast cancer has helped raise awareness of the realities faced by so many people with MBC, while demonstrating that a diagnosis does not diminish a person’s ability to lead, influence, and drive change. Through her work in Parliament and beyond, Ashley has shown a deep commitment to ensuring that the experiences of people living with MBC are visible and acted upon.
Ashley has championed the importance of better data for MBC, helping to push the urgent need to accurately record and count numbers of people living with MBC across the UK. She ensured that the National Cancer Plan committed to December 2026 as a target for publishing MBC data for England.
We were also incredibly encouraged to see METUPUK’s work recognised in the Plan’s ministerial foreword. This reflects Jo’s tireless campaigning and the growing influence of patient advocacy in shaping the future of cancer care.
#ThisWomansWork #METUPUK #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth.
26 Oct 2026
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