Walk the Walk celebrates 25 years of making a huge difference to breast cancer research

Nina Barough CBE (left) and Baroness Delyth Morgan

Walk the Walk is incredibly proud of the ground-breaking breast cancer research projects it has helped to fund over the last 25 years.

Working with Breast Cancer Now and its predecessor charities, so much progress continues to be made.

Nina Barough CBE, Founder and Chief Executive of Walk the Walk:

“In terms of research, I think we’re in a very different place now, to when Walk the Walk started. I am incredibly proud of what we and Breast Cancer Now have accomplished – it really shows how much can be achieved when charities collaborate. Around 9 in 10 (86%) of patients now survive breast cancer for 5 years or more, which is wonderful to be able to say. Looking forward, we are very excited about the growing evidence regarding how many breast cancer cases could actually be prevented in the first place, by our lifestyle choices. The number is quite staggering – potentially up to one in four. As the medical journal The Lancet reported last year – ‘Prevention is our best hope of reducing the global burden of cancer’ and I totally agree. How fantastic it would be, if our next goal could be focusing on how we can help people to not get cancer at all”.  

Baroness Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Now:-

“We could not be more grateful to Walk the Walk, Nina Barough and all the incredible men and women who have taken on such exciting challenges to raise money for vital breast cancer research – over the past 25 years. Breast Cancer Now have an ambitious goal that by 2050, all those diagnosed with breast cancer will live – and live well. But we can’t reach it alone and Walk the Walk’s continued support of our work will help us to get there. We look forward to seeing the special partnership between our two charities grow and flourish in the future.”

These are some of the amazing projects which Walk the Walk has helped fund and which continue to make a difference:

The Walk the Walk Fellowship, Dr Damir Varešlija. 2020-2025.
Analysing genetic information from tumour samples, Damir has already found important regulators of the gene switches that could be responsible for breast cancer cells spreading to the brain. He’s also found a range of gene switches that are only active in secondary tumours in the brain. His research is continuing and these are important first steps to find ways to repurpose existing drugs, or find new treatments for people with secondary breast cancer in the brain.

The Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank has grown over the last 10 years to become a phenomenal resource for researchers studying breast cancer. Everyone involved with the tissue bank is an active researcher, so they know and understand the research landscape. It means the tissue bank has been adapting and evolving over time to meet the need of researchers, and continues to do this.

The Generations Study - researchers are working with scientists around the world to combine data to do what no single study can do on its own. They’re working with other scientists to look at what effect physical activity has on breast cancer risk, analysing data from 1 million pre-menopausal women taking part in 22 different studies.

Walk the Walk was a founding Funder of both the Tissue Bank and the Generations Study and is the Principal Funder of the Walk the Walk Fellowship.

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