A CALENDAR featuring semi-naked women who have fought breast cancer will start a charity campaign to raise funds for a dedicated breast unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Women who have undergone the pain of being diagnosed with breast cancer stripped off for a series of revealing but tasteful photographs to help raise £2.5 million for the unit at the Worcester hospital.

Your Worcester News has adopted the campaign to provide a dedicated Worcestershire Breast unit in the city.

Yesterday, the calendar was unveiled to members of the media at Worcester Warriors Sixways Stadium before it is officially launched today.

Those present included Susie Coleman of Warndon Villages, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 26 and is now a patron of the Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign.

Mrs Coleman, who features in September, has her modesty protected by her guitar which she began to learn to play after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Speaking at the launch, she told the audience how she struggled to find a parking space at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and that moving from clinic to clinic for various medical assessments and tests made the journey through diagnosis to treatment more stressful, despite the best efforts of the excellent staff there. The new breast unit will bring all these services together in a single one-stop shop for breast patients. She said: “The new proposed unit is absolutely fantastic and will help to support the men and women of Worcestershire.”

Kevin Ward, the editor of your Worcester News, is one of the patrons of the charity, and said at the launch how his grandmother died of breast cancer when he was 10 years old.

He said: “I am very proud to be asked to be a patron of the breast unit campaign and delighted to announce that we have adopted the campaign. The campaign’s cry to action ‘Everybody Knows Somebody’ is poignantly accurate in my case and I’m sure that it will spur our community to support the cause to the utmost.”

Mr Ward also described the site of the new breast unit as ‘an oasis of tranquillity’ set apart from the busy main hospital. Consultant breast surgeon Steven Thrush said the philosophy of the breast unit was to ‘treat people as we would want to be treated ourselves’. He said: “There is no designated area for breast care. This will transform the care of patients with breast disease.”

To get a copy of the calendar, which costs £6, e-mail calendar@everybodyknowssomebody.co.uk and you will receive an automated response telling you where you can get a copy.

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Worcester News: Breast Unit Appeal