Jeremy Balfour, MSP for the Lothian Region, hosted Make 2nds Count at the Scottish Parliament today, a charity set up by Edinburgh resident Lisa Fleming following her diagnosis with secondary breast cancer in 2017 at the age of 33.
Jeremy joined fellow parliamentarians in Holyrood to encourage people across Scotland to get behind Make 2nds Count’s ‘Looks Can Be Deceiving,’ campaign, highlighting the fact that secondary breast cancer patients often hear the phrase “You don’t look ill” despite living with an incurable disease.
Jeremy said:
“I first met Lisa last year at the initial launch of her charity, Make 2nds Count, and was humbled by her dedication to help raise funds and awareness of secondary breast cancer having only just been diagnosed herself. Her courage and determination is inspiring and I was delighted to invite her to Parliament today to help raise awareness and to meet other secondary breast cancer patients who are currently undergoing treatment. I was shocked to hear that only 5-9% of funding into breast cancer research focuses solely on secondary breast cancer and hope that Make 2nds Count can lead the way in increasing research in this area.”
Make 2nds Count aims to raise vital funds, which will go directly to research on secondary breast cancer being conducted at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh by leading academic oncologist Dr Olga Oikonomidou. -
Lisa Fleming, founder of Make 2nds Count commented,
“We are delighted to have had the opportunity to bring our campaign to raise awareness of the lack of funding for research into secondary breast cancer to the Scottish Parliament. Despite being incurable, only 5-9% of the national funding for breast cancer research goes towards secondary breast cancer and we are committed to ensuring that this changes. We are so proud to be joined at the Parliament by seven secondary breast cancer patients, some undergoing incredibly debilitating forms of treatment, to bring an increased national focus to our campaign and are extremely grateful for this incredible opportunity”
