Secondary Breast Cancer Patient Summit Success in Liverpool

"The Summit was so brilliant and informative, please repeat it next year. It's the first and only thing of its type that I have seen and it was so needed."

We were thrilled that our Secondary Breast Cancer Patient Summit in Liverpool, in partnership with ECMC and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, went so well last week. The UK's first patient-focused event of its kind, saw 88 women and men from our community come together to hear first-hand from a number of experts in the medical field about how to navigate and understand clinical guidelines, and how to live well alongside secondary breast cancer. We were also delighted to be joined by over 400 people online.

Our speakers came from various walks of medical life and discussed a variety of subjects with live Q&A sessions at the end. We saw informative talks from Sarah Adomah, Lead Breast Clinical Nurse Specialist at The Royal Marsden about coping with side effects; the latest in TBNB developments from Dr Sheeba Irshad, Breast Cancer Medical Oncologist at Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust; and an understanding of Palliative Care from consultant Dan Monnery.

Toral Shah, Nutritional Scientist & Integrative Medicine Practitioner spoke about living well with secondary breast cancer; Research Therapeutic Radiographer Naman Julka-Anderson explained the various targeted treatments; and our Lead Patient Trials Advocate nurse Vivienne explained clinical trials and when to think about them.

If you weren't able to attend or want to watch again, here are the recordings of the Summit:

"The speakers were all great and I have left feeling like I’ve got more information to add to my arsenal. It was all very accessible, even when things got technical it was still understandable."

Samantha Dixon, CEO for Make 2nds Count said: "We are delighted with the success of our first Secondary Breast Cancer Patient Summit - the first of its kind in the UK in partnership with ECMC and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

Members of our community told us that before their diagnosis they knew nothing about secondary breast cancer, and often struggled to find relevant information about living with the disease or to know what questions to ask their care team. The Summit was a response to that, and brought together 16 experts, with various medical and clinical backgrounds, who shared their knowledge and answered important questions from our community online and in-person. We were encouraged that over 400 people joined us online, demonstrating the need for an event like this - one we hope to replicate and build on in the future.

It was truly humbling to provide an opportunity for people with secondary breast cancer and clinicians to learn from one another, for friendships to be made and for our community to leave feeling more knowledgeable and empowered to seek the treatment and support they need and deserve."

Thank you to our funders Novartis, Astrazeneca, Pfizer, Insurance With, Gilead, MSD and Menarini Stemline who enabled 100 people affected by secondary breast cancer to enjoy this three-day event for free, and thank you to the wonderful ladies at John Lewis Liverpool who treated some of our community to gorgeous-smelling treatments! Thanks also to our friends at Maggies Liverpool, ABC Global Alliance, Breast Cancer Now, Independent Cancer Patients' Voice and Met Up UK for joining us at the Summit and providing support and information in the exhibitors room.

And thank you to our wonderful community for coming along and listening online. You all helped make it the success that it was and we hope to repeat it in the future.