Breast cancer campaigner Tassia Haines dies

A woman who campaigned for better cancer treatment has died from secondary breast cancer.

Tassia Haines, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, was later told that her disease was incurable.

She raised awareness of red flag symptoms and campaigned for more specialist nurses.

Tassia's husband, Nick, said in a social media post that he was by his wife's side when she died.

• Woman dying of breast cancer calls for better care

Tassia was diagnosed with primary breast cancer when she was 24. She had chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiotherapy.

In December 2019 she started having severe back pain, and described being assessed by a GP nine times in a month.

Tassia Haines said campaigning was a "tangible way to say what happened to me... won't happen again"

At 28, she was told that she had secondary metastatic breast cancer in her bones, and that it was incurable.

She said at the time that death was "always there", but added: "It doesn't pull me down."

Tassia launched a petition calling for greater support for metastatic breast cancer patients, which received more than 14,000 signatures and was debated in the Senedd in 2022.

She described her campaigning as "a tangible way to say what happened to me and other women that I know, that have driven me, this won't happen again".

In 2023, Tassia met with Wales' Health Minister Eluned Morgan, who described Tassia as "inspiring".

"It is a testament to her bravery that she has been able to use her own extremely difficult circumstances to improve services for other people," Ms Morgan said.

She paid tribute to Tassia, saying: "Very saddened to hear about the passing of Tassia Haines and my thoughts are with her family and friends at this difficult time.

"Tassia was brave and inspirational, and drew upon her own extremely difficult circumstances to raise awareness of metastatic breast cancer and campaign to improve services for others."