Duchess of York supports new breast cancer centre

The Duchess of York has backed a breast cancer charity’s plans to build a new imaging and training centre after telling patients it was "thanks to my mammogram that I’m here today".

Sarah Ferguson is becoming a patron of Prevent Breast Cancer, which is building an academy to train specialists at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.

The centre will train 50 new staff each year and also increase breast cancer screening capacity by 13,000 appointments annually.

On a tour of the hospital, the duchess spoke about undergoing breast cancer treatment last year after a routine mammogram revealed she had an early form of the disease.

The duchess joined fellow patron Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Metcalfe in Coronation Street, on a visit to the Nightingale Centre.

The actor introduced the duchess to the charity when they appeared together as panellists on ITV's Loose Women programme and discussed their own breast cancer experiences.

During her visit, the duchess spoke with patient Ellen Alred about her own decision to have a mastectomy.

She told the 44-year-old, from Saddleworth in Greater Manchester: "I'm sitting here with a mastectomy and I know exactly the feeling."

Months after her breast cancer diagnosis the duchess learned she also had a malignant melanoma.

She said that after undergoing successful treatment, there had been "no spread or recurrence" of her cancer, though she would need to have regular check ups for the rest of her life.

Dynevor was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, at the same time as her character was battling the illness on screen.

Breast cancers are diagnosed and treated at the Nightingale Centre - also a base for Prevent Breast Cancer - by staff working for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

About a third of the 55,000 women who are diagnosed each year with breast cancer only do so as a result of routine mammograms, according to Cancer Research UK.

Prevent Breast Cancer's chief executive Nikki Barraclough said the new academy would offer vital "hands-on" clinical training.

"If we don’t have enough experts," she said, "then early cancers will be missed, women will have to wait longer for tests, and lives will be put at risk."

Construction work is due to start in November.

While Prevent Breast Cancer and Manchester NHS Foundation Trust Charity have secured more than 80% of the project's costs, they have joined forces to ask the public to raise the final £600,000.

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