MEDIA RELEASE

19 May 2025

Our journey with lobular breast cancer 5.jpg

‘Our Journey with Lobular Breast Cancer’ Documentary Film Following Lobular Moon Shot Project Campaign to Premiere at Raindance Film Festival 2025

London – 19th May 2025 – A documentary feature film telling the story of the Lobular Moon Shot Project (LMSP), a two-year campaign lobbying the British government for vital Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer (ILC) research funding, will have its world premiere at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival in London on 24th June 2025. Titled ‘Our Journey with Lobular Breast Cancer’ the film was produced by multi award-winning production company, Fact Not Fiction Films, directed by Tristan Loraine. The trailer for the film has been released today.

LMSP was founded by Dr Susan Michaelis in May 2023. Dr Michaelis, a former airline pilot, leading global aviation health and safety consultant and researcher, was first diagnosed with ILC in 2013 after it was missed on both mammogram and ultrasound, a common problem for ILC patients. Susan’s cancer returned three years later and again in 2021, by which time it was metastatic spreading to her bones, skin and ribs.

“I quickly learnt that despite this disease being discovered 80 years ago, ILC has had very little research and has no specific treatment,” explains Dr Michaelis. “This is unacceptable. 22 women are diagnosed with ILC in the UK every day, it makes up 15 percent of all breast cancer diagnoses and it’s more common than melanoma, ovarian and brain cancers. We have been forgotten. So far, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting has not accepted an invitation to meet with us. We invite him to attend the screening, so he has a clear understanding of what it’s like to be diagnosed with this disease. The government has the opportunity for the UK to take the lead in this vital lobular breast cancer research.”

The LMSP campaign has strong parliamentary support from over 345 MPs (the majority), with five principal MP supporters, including John Milne (Lib Dem), Helen Hayes and Sam Rushworth (Labour), Victoria Atkins and Helen Grant (Conservative). It’s the most supported cross-party campaign in the UK. In a Sky News interview with Kay Burley in December 2024, Victoria Atkins said she had promised this funding before the election last summer, as part of her Women’s Health Strategy.

The LMSP campaigners are calling on the government to take a moon shot approach to signing off the £20m research funding required - a fast injection of cash - that will push research forward quickly, similar to how governments responded to Covid. The £20m will fund a five-year ILC research project led by Professor Rob Clarke at the Manchester Breast Centre. It will bring together world-class researchers, scientists and ILC advocates, all with a specific interest in lobular breast cancer, who wish to move ILC research forward at a much greater pace to improve patient outcomes.

“The film shows very clearly that people diagnosed with lobular, their families, friends, the public, doctors, consultants and a majority of MPs want the Government to fund the Lobular Moon Shot Project. It’s a chance for Britain to lead the way into research of a disease that 1000 people a day globally are diagnosed with.” says Tristan Loraine, ‘Our Journey with Lobular Breast Cancer’ Director. “The government has a duty of care to the 22 women diagnosed in the UK every day to finally provide a solution to this unmet clinical need.”

Notes for Editors:
Assets:
Link to Our Journey with Lobular Breast Cancer film trailer:
https://vimeo.com/1084692558?share=copy

Link to high res film stills:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ure0wEc0GifUSzGBoJphko61przBy6X_?usp=sharing

Image 1 Caption:
Campaigners Sarah Ramsey-Smith (left) and Kirstin Spencer (right) talking with Dr Susan Michaelis
Image Caption 2:
Dr Susan Michaelis (left) walking with campaigners in May 2023 to mark the launch of LMSP
Image 3 Caption:
Campaigner Katie Swinburne at the first MP drop-in event
Image 4 Caption:
Dr Susan Michaelis (left) with Professor Rob Clarke (right) at the Manchester Breast Centre
Image 5 Caption:
Former Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland Dehenna Davison with Dr Susan Michaelis and campaigners

Hansard entries:
Rare Cancers Bill - 14th March 2025 – pages 1-3
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-03-14/debates/E91AEAE3-F8A5-4BFE-989D-312B576D93A5/RareCancersBill?highlight=lobular%20moon%20shot#contribution-12C95EFC-0B7C-4449-BEC0-2546C7FF3CA2

Lobular Breast Cancer Debate – 10th December 2024 – pages 3-23
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2024-12-10/debates/E6D4FC53-76E4-4C5E-A695-DE651F7D8512/LobularBreastCancer?highlight=lobular%20moon%20shot#contribution-3FD5EC37-01CA-48AF-88DD-DE4A4E8D5104

Watch the debate:
https://vimeo.com/1043245046

Topical Questions Debate – 23rd January 2024 – pages 24-25
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2024-01-23/debates/DCE09BBA-7293-4A2F-A4F1-CFC529930152/TopicalQuestions?highlight=lobular%20moon%20shot#contribution-C06B76C9-E97B-4E29-9047-80279F807292

LMSP Media Page:
https://www.lobularmoonshot.org/media

Media Contact:
Kate Ford
kate@jumppr.tv
077409 48065