Pop-up exhibition hosted by Hull Truck Theatre & St Stephen’s Shopping Centre Highlighting Metastatic Breast Cancer
16 Mar 2023 | Press Release
Each 'Darker Pink' figure features a QR code that, when scanned, plays a video from a real-life woman living with secondary breast cancer. Filmed in 2021, six of these women have since died, themselves becoming a statistic they spoke about whilst also campaigning for change. Many of these videos are incredibly emotional, as befits the seriousness of the topic. Jo, who lives in Saddleworth, Oldham said: “There is a critical need for awareness of the disease. This is what I have experienced over the years. Even patients who have had primary breast cancer are unaware of the red-flag signs and symptoms of metastatic breast cancer and the many issues that MBC patients face when diagnosed. There is a real and pressing need for change and that's what this exhibition aims to highlight.” Sarah Barber is a local lady who took part in the campaign and features as one of the 31 Darker Pink figures. She said: “I would like to say thank you to METUP UK for this campaign and to both St Stephen's and Hull Truck Theatre for hosting the exhibition. We with secondary breast cancer live a kind of limbo between scans and treatments, and we need to know there is hope. Awareness and funding mean research and development of new drugs and treatments to help us live and thrive with our loved ones for longer. It means hope. Please visit and learn more about the campaign.” Jim Harris, Centre Manager at St Stephen’s Shopping Centre, said: “We’re proud to be able to support METUPUK in raising awareness of such an important issue. It’s been brilliant to see customers engaging with the exhibition in the last few days and I hope many more will take the chance to see it in the coming weeks.” Janthi Mills-Ward, Executive Director at Hull Truck Theatre, said: “It felt very important to support the exhibition in raising awareness of metastatic breast cancer. We welcome people coming into Hull Truck Theatre to see the exhibition (held downstairs in our lower foyer area). We are open to the public between 11am – 5pm from Tuesday to Saturday each week and before performances. We hope hosting the exhibition whilst we have our production of Mumsy on will mean more women will see and learn about the signs of metastatic breast cancer and the experience of women effected by it.” The exhibition will be live in the city until Thursday 23rd March 2023 before moving to Rochester. METUPUK is a volunteer led, self-funded charity and the only patient advocacy group in the UK focusing on MBC. Founder Jo Taylor has been campaigning since 2016 to promote the issues affecting those diagnosed, highlighting not just the red flag signs and symptoms but also the lack of access to drugs, treatments, surgeries and clinical trials as well as the lack of data in this area. Metastatic (secondary) breast cancer is also called advanced breast cancer or stage 4 breast cancer and is incurable. This is when a primary breast cancer has travelled to another part of the body. The areas that MBC travels to is the bone, liver, lungs, brain and lymph nodes. This is a link to the infographic that supports our campaign https://www.abcdiagnosis.co.uk/resources/infographics/ The volunteer-led organisation works to push and promote issues affecting those with a particular focus on tackling the backlog of care for patients as well as awareness of this invisible disease. Link to exhibition venues & dates https://metupuk.org.uk/darker-side-of-pink/dates/
