**Campaign Update**
Lobular Moon Shot Project campaigners will be in central London on the morning of October 12th and are available for interview.
Yesterday, 23rd September, the Lobular Moon Shot Project posted an open letter to Wes Streeting on the campaign's social media platforms. The letter reads as follows:
Dear The Rt Hon Wes Streeting,
We wrote to you last week, but as yet we haven’t received a response. When we met over 2 months ago (14th July), for the first time you gave women in the UK who’ve been diagnosed with lobular breast cancer some hope, you made us feel heard and cared for. Do you have any idea what it’s like to discover that the medical research community has never taken the time to understand the basic biology of the type of breast cancer you have, despite it being discovered more than 70 years ago, which sadly means there’s no specific treatment for your disease.
You publicly said you would honour Susan’s legacy and that you’d asked Professor Chappell to bring researchers and funders together to plot a pathway forward. Since then, we’ve had a couple of online meetings with Professor Chappell and the DoH team. We were told the best way forward is for a number of work packages to be created, which would study different areas to understand the full biology and that we should be aware the £20m we’d been told would be needed would not be capped.
Professor Rob Clarke (Manchester Breast Centre) and his team met with the MRC last week but the small amount of funding available for this specific work package - an 18 month-5 year project is not guaranteed and is capped at £2.5m. We were promised a statement but we haven’t received it. The silence is deafening for us and the many women following, who are desperate for you to come good on your word. It’s Susan’s birthday on Sunday. Please honour your promise and don’t let us down.
Signed,
The Lobular Moon Shot Project Campaigners
We wrote to you last week, but as yet we haven’t received a response. When we met over 2 months ago (14th July), for the first time you gave women in the UK who’ve been diagnosed with lobular breast cancer some hope, you made us feel heard and cared for. Do you have any idea what it’s like to discover that the medical research community has never taken the time to understand the basic biology of the type of breast cancer you have, despite it being discovered more than 70 years ago, which sadly means there’s no specific treatment for your disease.
You publicly said you would honour Susan’s legacy and that you’d asked Professor Chappell to bring researchers and funders together to plot a pathway forward. Since then, we’ve had a couple of online meetings with Professor Chappell and the DoH team. We were told the best way forward is for a number of work packages to be created, which would study different areas to understand the full biology and that we should be aware the £20m we’d been told would be needed would not be capped.
Professor Rob Clarke (Manchester Breast Centre) and his team met with the MRC last week but the small amount of funding available for this specific work package - an 18 month-5 year project is not guaranteed and is capped at £2.5m. We were promised a statement but we haven’t received it. The silence is deafening for us and the many women following, who are desperate for you to come good on your word. It’s Susan’s birthday on Sunday. Please honour your promise and don’t let us down.
Signed,
The Lobular Moon Shot Project Campaigners
We are incredibly disappointed that the government has not yet responded to the letter sent last week by Tristan Loraine, Lobular Moon Shot Project campaigner and husband of the campaign's founder Dr Susan Michaelis. Susan passed away from lobular breast cancer on 9th July, just five days before the meeting with Wes Streeting, Karin Smyth and Professor Lucy Chappell took place on 14th July – see image attached.
The day after our meeting the government released a statement from Wes Streeting saying:
"Everyone is determined to honour Susan's legacy. I've asked our Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Lucy Chappell to bring campaigners and researchers together to plot a path forward to understand the basic biology behind this cancer, so that we can make a difference to the women affected."
The day after our meeting the government released a statement from Wes Streeting saying:
"Everyone is determined to honour Susan's legacy. I've asked our Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Lucy Chappell to bring campaigners and researchers together to plot a path forward to understand the basic biology behind this cancer, so that we can make a difference to the women affected."
Lobular Moon Shot Project Campaigners meet Secretary of State for Health & Social Care Wes Streeting, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care Karin Smyth on 14th July.