A GREAT grandmother who has battled breast cancer twice is determined to live long enough to see her great grandchildren grow up – and see Worcester get its first dedicated breast unit.
Cherry Robinson said she was too positive a person to feel sorry for herself and wants to do all she can to support the £2.5 million Worcester News-backed appeal for the Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign to create a dedicated breast care facility at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
The existing facilities are cramped, crowded, very clinical-looking and too spread out within the hospital, which makes the experience stressful for patients.
The new unit will cut waiting times in half from three to four hours to about one-and-a-half hours. It will be served by about 30 exclusive car parking spaces, removing the stress for patients driving around the Worcester hospital looking for a space.
Mrs Robinson, aged 65, of Osier Close, off Bath Road, Worcester, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and had a mastectomy. She received a second blow when she was diagnosed again last September, 2008, 11 years after her first breast cancer battle.
Mrs Robinson would like as many people as possible to support the campaign, adopted by your Worcester News, by pledging money and to buy the official calendar. She features as “Miss October” for the revealing but tasteful calendar, holding a strategically placed watering can.
Mrs Robinson, whose one motto in life is “if you’re breathing, you’re okay”, dotes on her three children, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren and wants to spend as much time with them as she can.
“The first time I was told, it was bad. The second time was devastating,” she said. “You want to see your grandchildren and great grandchildren grow up. I wanted to live until I was 100. Now it’s a bonus to get through each year but I’m a positive person. I just get on with it. People say ‘why me?’ I say ‘why not me?’ Why should it be somebody else?”
Mrs Robinson, also chairman of the Worcester Breast Cancer Support Group, which has been going 20 years next year, said the cancer had now spread to her lungs and she was taking tablets and will need chemotherapy.
She said: “At the moment at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, you don’t know where you are from one minute to the next.
“I can’t fault the staff but the facilities are not good. Everything in the new unit would be done under one roof in a nice, friendly environment. We want to raise money for a special room in this new unit where people can be told any bad news.
“They can go there with family. It is to give them some privacy. You can be left in a waiting room, upset, and people may be staring at you, thinking, ‘What’s that person crying for?’ The room would be named after breast care nurse Jacqui Heal who formed the breast cancer support group but sadly died three years ago.
The support group meets at St Andrew’s Church in Pump Street, Worcester, on the second Tuesday of each month at 2pm. If you would like a calendar which costs £6, e-mail calendar@everybodyknowssomebody.co.uk
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