TREKSTOCK
I was in the middle of hosting my third round of group programs for women in peri-menopause and menopause when I had my first long conversation with Jemima Reynolds, Health at Trekstock.
Jemima and I had known each other for a long time, I was a Trekstock member myself when I was first diagnosed and the charity helped me massively in feeling less alone.
Jemima was telling me about an event they recently had, “Lifting the Lid: on Menopause after cancer”.
Jemima was upset at the lack of care young adults in their 20s and 30s received when it came to managing menopause after cancer. Research shows us that up to 40% of women under the age of 40 go into permanent menopause as a result of their treatment. It’s a side effect we don’t often hear that much about (because we don’t talk about menopause that much generally), but the long-term impact can be devastating.
This struck a chord.
As in the months prior to this conversation, not a single week went by where I was not outraged at how under educated and underserved we all were! And so we began to come up with a plan of how we could best serve Trekstock’s community, young people in their 20s and 30s who are affected by Menopause and cancer.
I am so pleased to say that by today together with Trekstock we have guided over 150 young people through the program! For more info head to Trekstock here https://www.trekstock.com/news/navigating-menopause-national-lottery-support and register for your free space on our next program.
After the first round of our program, I had been in touch with Kate Muir, the producer of the Davina McCall documentary on the menopause. I loved the documentary but felt excluded as so many women after a cancer diagnosis do. As there was just no mention of us! So when Kate agreed to talk about menopause and cancer in the second documentary, I was over the moon! And how brilliant that one of our young adults from the program decided to share a story.
This was a real pinch-me moment! A young adult of our community and a mention of our work with Trekstock on Channel 4! yay! We’re getting heard! In the pic below you can see Jemima, Davina McCall and Stacey who was so brave and went on national TV!
BREAST CANCER NOW
We have also helped put resources together for charity Breast Cancer Now, including “Top five tips and resources for women in menopause after breast cancer”.
Here is a link to the resource: https://breastcancernow.org/about-us/news-personal-stories/top-five-tips-resources-women-in-menopause-after-breast-cancer
Dani also featured on The Breast Cancer Now podcast and created collaborative posts for world menopause day and menopause support.
If you’d like to listen to Dani on the podcast, visit the link below:
FUTURE DREAMS HOUSE
We are also very excited to be collaborating with Future Dreams House in London for an in-person workshop in autumn 2022 and further events in 2023.
THE LITTLE PRINCESS TRUST
Dani’s husband Tim invented a new hairbrush, the Manta, after she had lost all her hair to chemotherapy. In the years that Tim invented the Manta, got it a world wide patent and now sells it all over the world, Dani rebuilt her health. After winning many industry and consumer awards, they won the prestigious Queens award of innovation in 2022.
Tim and Dani are proud ambassador of The Little Princess Trust, a charity supplying real hair wigs free of charge to children and young people who have lost their own hair due to cancer treatment and other conditions such as Alopecia.
TLPT helps to restore the confidence and identity of young people up to the age of 24 by providing them with a free real hair wig.
Dani and Tim have so far donated over 6124 brushes. Each young person who receives a real hair wig also reeves a free Manta hair brush.
MANTA® Hair is very proud to be part of their story. You can find out more about Manta Hair here https://www.mantahair.com/
And TLPT here https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/
In the picture below you can see Wendy and Phil from the Little Princess Trust with Dani and Tim.
All of our charity partners do incredible work in helping people have a better menopause survivorship experiences and it is an honour and with great pleasure to add our services and support to each one of them.
If you are a charity and if you would like to talk to us please email us: hello@healthywholeme.com
