Northallerton exhibition tells stories of breast cancer patients

Laura Ashurst (left) and Jo Taylor at the exhibition

Organisers of an exhibition telling the stories of breast cancer patients hope it will encourage people to "sit up and take notice" of their plight.

The Darker Side of Pink display in Northallerton features the stories of 31 women to highlight how 31 women die every day of metastatic breast cancer.

Volunteer Laura Ashurst said the exhibition, by patient advocacy group METUPUK, was "extremely powerful".

It will run until 3 June at North Yorkshire Council's Treadmills centre.

The exhibition features plastic figures displaying QR codes that tell their stories when scanned.

Ms Ashurst, 56, from Stokesley, was diagnosed with primary breast cancer 23 years ago when she had just given birth to her second child.

She was diagnosed with metastatic (secondary) breast cancer (MBC) in 2007, with her lungs also affected.

She said: "The reality is people are dying and we need people to sit up and take notice and make sure women get the treatment and the support they need.

"There is nothing fluffy and pink about MBC - there is a much darker side to it.

"My metastatic breast cancer is currently stable but not everyone has stability for as long as I have and through this exhibition we hope to get that message across."

'We are not being heard'

METUPUK was founded by Jo Taylor, who has been living with MBC for 10 years and strives to raise awareness.

She said: "The Darker Side of Pink is an impactful physical interactive mobile and online experience, via a powerful display that counteracts the other, more fluffy, baby pink-branded campaigns.

"The reality is 11,500 women die of this every year, but we are not being heard.

"We hope through this exhibition and our charity that will change and we can see those deaths reduced and outcomes and survival increased."

Since the exhibition was first launched three years ago by METUPUK, 10 of the women who are featured in the display have died from the disease.

Councillor Michael Harrison, North Yorkshire Council's executive member for health and adult services, said he was "delighted" to see the exhibition come to Northallerton.

"It is sending out vital messages to everyone and we urge people to go along and listen to what these women are saying," he added.