Young mum with terminal cancer calls for teens to be taught to check breasts

A mum-of-two with terminal cancer is calling for teenagers to be given potentially life saving lessons in how to check their breasts.

Faye Low, 33, was devastated to learn she has just months to live after previously beating cancer twice.

The Essex mum was first diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in 2018, then again in 2020.

She bravely fought the disease, enduring months of gruelling treatment, but was dealt another blow when the cancer spread to her brain earlier this year.  

Now Faye, from Southend, is determined to increase awareness of the illness in sex education classes and help raise cash for charities including local organisation, Bosom Pals.

This weekend she has launched a petition urging secondary schools to teach pupils how to check their breasts for changes that could be a sign of cancer in PSHE classes, which she hopes can save lives.

Faye, a paediatric nurse, told Metro.co.uk: ‘I feel really passionate about it, I think it is something that should be part of school sex ed training and also pushed in appointments such as maternity and post baby checks.

‘The age of people getting diagnosed is becoming younger and younger.

‘Young people need educating; they need to be informed and they need to know their bodies and the earlier, the better.’

The Change.org petition was set up with the support of Faye’s close friend, Sam Koppit and her daughter, Illiana Koppit-Brown, 16.

Illiana told Faye how she had never been taught how to check her breasts at school.

But Faye warned on the petition: ‘Breast cancer does not discriminate against age or gender.’

Sam, 38, told Metro.co.uk: ‘I said to my daughter, “(cancer) affects all ages and genders and we ought to be teaching people how to check”.

‘We see children as kids because they are under 18 but they are 15 and 16 years old – not children in the physical sense.

‘We are in 2021 and this is something that should be done, it is really important.

‘Our goal is to educate children but we also need to educate parents, that’s the bigger picture.

‘I believe it should be part of PSHE, we need professional involvement as to what age group but I believe it should be from upper secondary school, years 10 and 11.’

Sam, from Leigh, Essex, helps Faye with her campaigning – including a blog on her journey called Return of the Beast – when she feels too unwell to do so, describing how they have become ‘inseparable’.

‘She is not always the one physically doing it but she is a million and one percent behind it, every post, every comment, she is there,’ she added.

‘She is a woman on a mission to get this out there.  

‘There has to be a point where people won’t lose their mums, sisters, cousins, aunts, children. We need people to check their boobs.’

Faye is due to receive treatment at St Bart’s Hospital in London that will hopefully give her more time and a better quality of life.

She and husband Richard – parents to daughters, Amelia, eight, and Imogen – three, now want to spend every precious moment together.

Fortunately her breast cancer is not genetic, Faye, who turns 34 on Tuesday, said.

‘We have booked a trip to Center Parcs and weekends here and there,’ she added.

‘As much family time and memory making as we can.

‘I’m a very strong person and I feel I have to remain strong for my daughters, I want to remain a positive role model and positive influence for them.

‘I would like to think I’m going to inspire people to be positive in their way of life and thinking, I just want to be remembered as a positive, upbeat person who thrived on life and makes the most of things.

‘Life is so short, so precious, you just have to make the most of it.

‘It is a comfort to know even if I can change one person’s life for the better, I have done a good thing.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted the Department of Education for comment.

You can find out more about how to check your breasts – and click here to support the campaign.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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