In Memory of Angie – Supporting Prevent Breast Cancer

This year, our team is proud to support Prevent Breast Cancer, the only UK charity entirely dedicated to the prediction and prevention of breast cancer.

Our chosen cause is deeply personal. In 2024, we lost our beloved colleague and friend, Angie, to metastatic breast cancer.

Angie faced her illness with strength, honesty, and an unwavering sense of positivity. She often referred to her oncologist, Dr. Sacha Howell, with affection as “Sacha Fierce” — a reflection of the trust and admiration she had for him. Dr. Howell is part of Prevent Breast Cancer’s expert medical panel, making this cause especially meaningful to us.

To honour Angie’s memory and support the charity she believed in, our staff team will be running the Altrincham 10K and the Manchester Half Marathon. Every mile is for Angie — to celebrate her life, carry her message forward, and help prevent others from facing the same journey.

We’re honoured to share Angie’s own words, written during her treatment. They capture her spirit more than we ever could:

“You have breast cancer, a stage 3 aggressive tumour which has already spread into your lymph nodes, you will start an intensive course of Chemotherapy within 2 weeks, followed by Surgery & then Radiotherapy".

On 23rd September 2020, during my lunch hour from work, this was a shock in itself to hear, but to be given this news alone was particularly difficult. I drove home from the hospital that day in floods of tears wondering how I could deliver such awful news to my husband, my family, my friends. Thanks to Covid, I did all of the hospital visits on my own during my cancer journey in 2020/2021, from scans, kidney checks, long chemo days, being hospitalised with illness, surgery day, post-surgery checks, 15 consecutive days of Radiotherapy & the continuing blood tests & preventative chemo.

Thankfully I beat breast cancer, and my last treatment was on 30th September 2021. I am a positive person & not one for sitting around being miserable, dwelling on being ill, the way I seen it was that I cannot control the cancer, but I CAN control my thought process & that is exactly what I did. I made it my mission to smile every day. Losing your hair, eye lashes/brows is like losing your identity, but physically, no amount of make-up or hair can fix your smile & ultimately that's what makes us all beautiful.

Although my initial treatment was a success story I did however, have to come to terms with the fact that my body will never be the same again, as well as cancer taking away my femininity for some time, the chemo brain fog was so frustrating (probably more so for my husband than me if truth be told), I get tired a lot quicker than I used to, my joints ache & are much weaker now from all the treatments I've endured. Frustratingly, I am right-handed but following surgery, my right arm is very weak now & will be forever, meaning I can't do a lot of normal things that I used to, I'm also at high risk of lymphoedema for life.

However, this was my new 'normal' & I had to accept that I am now a different version of me.

Unfortunately, I was only cleared of cancer for a few short months. In October 2021 I started to have unusual headaches and so I flagged this up with my Oncologist straight away who had previously notified me of the signs to look out for of secondary breast cancer. After an urgent CT & MRI, I was informed that unfortunately I now had metastatic cancer meaning that the disease had spread to my brain and was now incurable (stage 4).

Although this news was obviously devastating for me and my family, the Christie Hospital have continued to look after me by changing up my chemotherapy treatments and keeping me under constant review. I am currently on a chemotherapy treatment with minimal side effects which gives me a better quality of life and has allowed me to return to work and to go on lovely holidays... a feeling of normality I never thought possible again.

I accept the older, slower, weaker me, but I am also the same happy me & although I'm physically weaker, I am mentally much stronger. I am proud of my scars... to me they are my war wounds to remind me of the fight that I initially won.

The last few years have been without doubt, the toughest months of my life but going through this during a pandemic has not only taught me a lot about myself, but more so about the people around me. Due to Covid, during my treatments all I could really do was go for walks. The options of having meals out, day trips, seeing family & friends - the things that would normally get people through it, was all taken away from me. Thankfully, a lot of special people really stepped-up to ensure I did not feel isolated during such dark times, especially my husband, my sister & my best friends.

My advice to anyone now whether ill or not is to love you for you. Whether big or small, love your body because it really is amazing & learn to appreciate life. Be grateful every day for what you have because when you stop & reflect... I bet you have so much to be thankful for... I know I certainly do!”

Angie Wesley 1977 - 2024

Angie’s strength continues to inspire us. Thank you for supporting Prevent Breast Cancer in her memory. Every donation brings us closer to a future where fewer families face what hers did.