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GUILDFORD WOMEN BACK BATTLE AGAINST ‘SILENT KILLER’
11-12-2007
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Three Guildford businesswomen have joined the fight to cut the death rate from a cancer known as “the silent killer” with support from their local MP Anne Milton.
Sandra Young, her daughter Laura, and Sandra Leslie of The Wilky Group have been sponsored by the company to join the 500 Club, an initiative of The Eve Appeal charity to fundraise for research into ovarian cancer.
The 500 Club hopes to recruit 500 women to donate £500 per annum for three years, to cover the running costs for the charity, enabling all other funds raised to go directly towards research. This could lead to the addition of ovarian cancer screening to the screening programmes already offered to women for breast and cervical cancer. The charity has a fundraising target of £3.4 million over the next three years.
7,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK every year and because diagnosis is usually made after the disease has spread beyond the ovary, five year survival rates are only one in five. For breast cancer the reverse is true, with four in five women surviving after five years. The UKCTOCS trial, the world’s largest ovarian cancer screening research programme, aims to show that early screening will help cut death rates from the disease by identifying it earlier.
Sandra Young, a director of The Wilky Group, became a member of the 500 Club’s committee after being told of its work by Ruth Anderson, vice chairman of KPMG UK and a trustee of the charity. The two women have known each other since Ruth was a partner in KPMG in Guildford in the 1980s and 90s.
Sandra and her daughter Laura, who works on research and special projects at Wilky, and former nurse Sandra Leslie, now managing director of Parallel Business Centres, Wilky’s serviced offices division, are encouraging other Surrey women to join them. Sandra Young said: “As a mother of a daughter and as a businesswoman who is in a position to be able to help, I feel this is a compelling cause which could help save women’s lives.”
Guildford MP and Shadow Minister for Health Anne Milton, also a former nurse, added her voice to the appeal. “This is an opportunity for women to give back to women. Even if you can’t afford £500, anything you can give, even £5, will be welcome. It can make a difference in finding out more about this rare and not much talked-about cancer.”
The 500 Club was launched in London recently and there will be future opportunities for members to meet and receive updates on the appeal’s progress.
For further information about The Eve Appeal or The 500 Club, please see www.eveappeal.org.uk or call 0207 380 6900.
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Caption: From left: Sandra Leslie of Parallel Business Centres, Laura Young of The Wilky Group, Guildford MP Anne Milton and Sandra Young of The Wilky Group.
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