Nottingham Forest Women’s players show support to the Nottingham Breast Institute and help raise awareness. | Latest news

• NFFC players and staff visit the breast Institute to show support for Breast Cancer awareness month
• Breast institute staff give the NFFC women’s players a demo of the mammogram machine using a football
• Netball team manager shares story of her mum’s breast cancer experience
• NBI Head of service describes the NFFC visit as “a symbol of solidarity”

 

Players from the Nottingham Forest (NFFC) Women's Football and Netball teams have visited the Nottingham Breast Institute (NBI) to help raise awareness of breast cancer.  

The teams visited the NBI, based at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s (NUH) City Hospital, where expert clinicians used a football to demonstrate a mammogram and educate the teams on how to check their breasts. 

NFFC is very supportive of raising that awareness about breast cancer, for some from a personal perspective. Netball team manager, Sian Foley, knows too well the importance of breast checking after watching her mum get two diagnoses of breast cancer. Sian said: “It has been a privilege to be given a tour around the Breast Institute. Seeing my mum go through breast cancer was a scary time and it made me more connected to the cause.” 

“I am going to post the breast checking guidance we have been given today on the team WhatsApp group to really encourage everyone to be breast aware.  

“It’s been one of my best days at work today meeting these individuals who give such brilliant care and it’s nice to be able to say thank you.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nadia Gilani, Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon, Head of Service at the NBI welcomed NFFC to the institute. She said: The presence of the Nottingham Forest Women’s Netball and Football teams at our Breast Cancer Awareness event at Nottingham Breast Institute meant more than just a visit, it was a symbol of solidarity, strength, and hope. 

“For our patients, it showed that their journey matters — not just within hospital walls, but across the wider community. For our staff, it was a reminder that the work we do is seen, supported, and appreciated.”  

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with about 56,000 new cases in women and 400 in men diagnosed each year. Cancer has no prejudice - even physically fit, elite sports women are not immune.  

The players and staff from NFFC women’s Football & Netball clubs were given a tour of the facilities, including a tour of the radiography facilities from consultant radiologist, Amanjot Karuppiah, a breast checking workshop using specialist mannequins, and a football was used by mammographer, Akpevwen Ogbonolusegun, to demonstrate the mammogram machine. 

Roughly 1 in 7 UK women will develop it in their lifetime, these are mums, sisters, grandmothers, aunties and daughters and it is most common in women over 50.   

The NBI is a leading centre for breast cancer research and treatment that developed the internationally recognised Nottingham Prognostic Index and grading system. It focuses on a wide range of research, from classifying breast cancers and identifying prognostic markers to understanding the role of cancer stem cells and developing new gene tests to tailor treatment.  

Nottingham Hospitals Charity has provided funding for some of this specialist diagnostic equipment, along with comforting artwork and a homely waiting room to help patients during their anxious wait for breast screenings.  

Professor of public health at University of Nottingham, Emma Wilson, is a patient at the Breast Institute and started helping the NBI with research into patients, like her, electing for breast risk prevention surgery. She was diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene at the age of 28 and had to make the difficult decision of an elective bilateral mastectomy as a preventative measure. Emma said: “The Breast Institute looked after me really well, so it was really nice to be able to use my expertise to give something back.  

“It was never a question for me to have the surgery because I didn’t want my children to see what I saw my mum go through.  

“They’ve given me a real chance to “pre-survive”, if that’s the right phrase, and an opportunity to live my life without worrying. They’ve removed this ticking time bomb from me.” 

Breast Cancer awareness runs throughout the month of October and there is year-round support at the Nottingham Breast Institute: www.nuh.nhs.uk/nottingham-breast-institute/