A STRONG friendship has been formed amongst women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Kelly Walton, 40, was diagnosed in March 2017 with triple negative breast cancer, an uncommon type that only affects 20 per cent of people with breast cancer.

An oncologist at Worcester hospital offered Kelly a drug, Olaprib, and to take part in a new experiment, the partner trial. The trial compares the effects of Olaprib and chemotherapy to chemotherapy alone for triple negative breast cancer.

Kelly said: “The thing with triple negative is that after the treatment is finished there is nothing you can do, apart from crossing your fingers and hoping. The idea is for Olaparib to prevent reoccurance, so it was a no brainer.”

Kelly was referred to the to the triple negative page and found three other women from across the country who were also on the trial. As she was eager to communicate on a wider scale she created the Facebook group, Addenbrookes partner trial, which there are currently 48 members. Kelly later created a local group for Worcestershire women.

She added: “There are 10 of us now from the Worcester tribe. Four of those are my very good friends who I see all the time. It is a lifelong friendship. It was so important and saved me talking to these women. They completely understood what I was going through, because we were all in the same boat.

"When you are diagnosed with cancer it puts you into a little box against the rest of the world. When it’s triple negative that box gets a bit smaller. Then when you are on the trial it is even smaller.

“Sometimes you need people who know exactly where you are. Every now and then the fear gets to you, so it is important to speak to others who know how you feel. These women helped me massively.

“When you finish treatment, you lose your safety net. The groups support is fantastic. I am so glad I found my local ladies. We all help each other and get through everything.

“These women started off as cancer buddies. Now they are my good friends. I became very close to them very quickly."