Thousands of women could be saved from the country's biggest killer for women in their 30s - thanks to the legacy of Sarah Harding.
The former Girls Aloud star, who was raised in Stockport, tragically died in 2021 aged just 39, after being diagnosed with breast cancer having found a lump during lockdown.
A doctor, based at the Christie Hospital in south Manchester, who treated Sarah, now wants every woman in the UK to be invited for a risk screening when they turn 30.
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Dr Sacha Howell, honorary consultant in Medical Oncology, says if the study is successful, it could be rolled out nationwide. Pop-up clinics in supermarket car parks could offer women DNA testing and low-dose mammograms, the Mirror reports.
Unlike regular mammograms, which look for tumours, these examine breast density, believed to identify those at higher risk of breast cancer. Dr Howell hopes to eventually invite all women aged 30 to 39 for screening.
Mammograms are currently only routinely offered on the NHS to over 50s. According to Cancer Research, this is because the risk of breast cancer is generally 'very low' for women under the age of 50.
But breast cancer is now the most common cause of death for women in their 30s, and more than 2,300 aged 39 or under are diagnosed each year.
Dr Howell’s initial study – the first into young women’s risks – will recruit 1,000 subjects aged 30-39 for low-level mammograms and saliva DNA analysis. The NHS trial aims to establish whether the density of breast tissue plays a part in the risk of younger women getting the disease, as it does in older women.
This research was possible thanks to funding from the Christie Charity, Cancer Research UK and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal, supported by her family, friends and Girls Aloud bandmates Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts. Together, they raised more than £1.2million in her name.
Dr Howell said: “Sarah’s dream was that other women of her age did not go through the same horrendous experience she did. At the end of this study we hope to have a robust risk prediction system for young women to stop them dying from the disease.”
Next month marks two years since Sarah’s mum Marie announced her girl had “slipped away peacefully”.
During lockdown, the former Coronation Street actress found a lump but was reluctant to seek treatment. She was diagnosed with advanced-stage breast cancer in summer 2020. Despite a mastectomy and chemo, the cancer advanced.
In her powerful memoir, Hear Me Out, released in March 2021, Sarah laid bare her mission to help other women – no matter her own outcome.
She wrote: “I was adamant that I didn’t want the news about my diagnosis getting out. However, there was a little part of me that thought, maybe if I could bring myself to talk about it, it might help others who are going through something similar – people who had left a cancer diagnosis until it might be too late.
“Maybe if I spoke out, as a public figure, a celebrity, it could help get the message across how important it is to get checked out if you have concerns.”
Referrals more than doubled after Angelina Jolie revealed in 2013 she’d had a double mastectomy on being told she had a 87% risk of breast cancer due to the BRCA1 gene. Now experts hope Sarah can have the same impact.
Philip Almond, of Cancer Research UK, said: “The BCAN-RAY project will fulfil Sarah’s dying wish to help women like her. One in seven women in the UK will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
“By harnessing the power of cutting-edge science, we can help more women live their lives free from the fear of breast cancer.”
Catherine Craven-Howe, 33, from Hale, was one of the first 60 recruits to the study held in collaboration with the Universities of Manchester, Cambridge and University College London. She said: “I feel really honoured to be part of Sarah’s legacy.
“This could save the lives of so many women.”
Harding was born in Ascot but was raised in Greater Manchester after her family moved to Stockport when she was 14-years-old.
Before finding fame on talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, the former Hazel Grove High School pupil studied hair and beauty at Stockport College and she worked on the promotions team for two nightclubs in The Grand Central Leisure Park in Stockport, as well as waitressing at Pizza Hut.
The main symptoms of breast cancer according to the NHS, are; a lump or area of thickened tissue in the breast; a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts; discharge from either of your nipples; a lump or swelling in either armpit; dimpling on the skin of your breasts; a rash on or around your nipple.
To donate to Sarah Harding's breast cancer appeal visit: https://www.christie.nhs.uk/the-christie-charity/donate/the-sarah-harding-breast-cancer-appeal
