breastcancernow.org

Breast Cancer Now is the UK's leading breast cancer charity. It funds world-class research and provides support services, with the stated aim that "everyone can live and live well." If you are looking for trusted breast cancer information, someone to talk to, or ways to support research and campaigns, this is the organisation behind those services.

What Breast Cancer Now does

The charity describes itself as combining "the power of science and support to change breast cancer." Its work falls into a few practical areas:

• Research funding — it funds laboratory research and points to a track record of "some of the biggest discoveries in breast cancer research."
• Information — it publishes breast cancer information written by experts, designed to help you understand "what's happening at every step."
• Support services — groups, courses, webinars and one-to-one support for people living with or beyond breast cancer.
• A nurse helpline — specialist nurses you can reach by phone, email or message for confidential support on breast cancer or breast health.
• Campaigning — pushing for quicker, earlier diagnosis, access to treatments and personalised care.
• Fundraising and volunteering — events, volunteering and campaigns such as Wear It Pink.

Who it is for

The site is built around several audiences:

If you are outside the UK, the information may still be useful, but the support services and campaigning work are UK-focused.

How to use the site

1. Start with "About breast cancer" if you want to understand a diagnosis, a symptom or a treatment stage. The content is written by experts and organised to follow each step.
2. Use "Find life-changing support" if you want practical or emotional help rather than clinical information — this is where groups, courses, webinars and one-to-one support sit.
3. Talk to a nurse if your question is personal. The helpline is described as free and confidential, and you can call, email or message.
4. Read real stories if you want to hear from people in similar situations. The site features named stories, including Evie's, Amit's, Sarah's, Julie's and Vickie's.
5. Donate, fundraise or volunteer if you want to contribute. One-off and regular donation options are listed, and the site notes Apple Pay as a payment method.

Donating: what the amounts are linked to

The charity gives examples of what donations could fund, which helps you judge where your money goes:

• £10 could give 34 people a copy of the Diagnosed with breast cancer: what now? guide.
• £20 could buy 500 tiny test tubes for researchers working with small samples.
• £30 could help someone get answers by calling the free and confidential helpline.
• £5 (regular) could give 24 people a copy of the After breast cancer treatment guide.
• £15 (regular) could help make 30 minutes of research happen.
• £30 (regular) could keep the breast cancer support app Becca running for a week.

These are illustrative examples rather than a price list — the site presents them as ways to understand impact, not as fixed costs.

Key things to know before you rely on it

• It is a charity, not a medical provider. It offers information and support, not diagnosis or treatment. For clinical decisions, speak to your own care team.
• The nurse service is confidential, and the site describes it as free — but check current opening hours and contact options on the site before you rely on a particular channel.
• Research claims are the charity's own framing. It states it has been behind major discoveries; if you need specifics for a decision, look at the individual research pages rather than the summary.
• Fundraising events change by season. Wear It Pink is listed for Friday 23 October, and events range from runs and walks to cycles and skydives — check the events page for what is currently open.

Where to go next

• For information: the "About breast cancer" section.
• For support: "Find life-changing support now."
• For a conversation: the nurse helpline by phone, email or message.
• For giving: the donation page (one-off or regular), fundraising events, volunteering, or campaigning.

Breast Cancer Now (breastcancernow.org) is a UK-based breast cancer charity that provides expert-written breast cancer information alongside direct support services. It is a suitable starting point if you want to understand a diagnosis, learn about breast health, or find someone to talk to — and its materials are written to help you follow what is happening at each step.

What the site offers

The charity describes itself as combining science and support to change breast cancer. Its public-facing content falls into three broad areas:

• About breast cancer — trusted information written by experts, designed to help you understand what is happening at every stage.
• Support services — groups, courses, webinars and one-to-one support, plus the option to speak with specialist nurses.
• Research — what its labs are working on and the discoveries it has contributed to.

Getting information you can rely on

If your goal is to understand the disease rather than to donate or fundraise, the "About breast cancer" section is the core resource. The site states the information is written by experts and structured to explain each stage of the breast cancer experience, which matters when you are trying to interpret unfamiliar terms after a diagnosis or during treatment.

A practical way to use it:

1. Start with the general "About breast cancer" pages to build a baseline understanding.
2. Move to the stage- or topic-specific pages that match your situation.
3. Note any questions the material raises, then take them to the nurse service rather than trying to resolve them from reading alone.

Talking to a specialist nurse

Breast Cancer Now offers a nurse service you can reach by phone, email or message. The charity describes this as free and confidential support available whenever you need it. This is the most direct route if you want an answer about breast cancer or breast health that is specific to your circumstances — something a general information page cannot provide.

Support beyond reading

The site also points to peer and group-based support, including:

• Groups, courses and webinars
• One-to-one support
• "Someone Like Me," a service referenced in a user story about being matched with someone who has been through similar experiences

These are useful when the gap is not information but isolation — talking to people who "just get it."

Real stories as context

The site publishes first-person accounts, including those of Evie, Amit, Sarah, Julie and Vickie. These are personal narratives rather than clinical guidance, so treat them as context and reassurance rather than as a source of medical facts. For decisions about your own care, the expert-written information and the nurse service are the appropriate references.

If you want to support the work

The site also functions as a fundraising and campaigning hub. You can make a one-off or regular donation, sign up for fundraising events (runs, walks, cycles, skydives), volunteer, campaign for quicker diagnosis and access to treatments, or take part in Wear It Pink. Donation pages list suggested amounts with examples of what each could fund, such as providing copies of its guides or supporting research.

Bottom line

Use breastcancernow.org when you want expert-written explanations of breast cancer and breast health, a confidential nurse service to ask specific questions, or peer support from people with similar experiences. Use it as a starting point for understanding — not as a substitute for advice from your own care team.

Breast Cancer Now describes itself as the UK's leading breast cancer charity, and its stated aim is to combine science and support so that "no one dies of breast cancer in the future." Its research funding is presented as a core part of that mission: the charity says it funds world-class research and that "change is happening in our labs right now." If you want to understand what that funding actually supports, the charity's own site points to two things worth looking at — its current research programmes and its record of research achievements.

What the charity says it funds

According to the site, Breast Cancer Now's research work is framed around a long-term goal rather than a single project: preventing deaths from breast cancer in the future. The organisation states that it has been "behind some of the biggest discoveries in breast cancer research," and it invites visitors to see both what it is currently working on and the progress already made.

Two entry points are offered on the homepage:

• About our research — described as showing what the charity is working on now, with the line "Change is happening in our labs right now."
• Research achievements — described as a record of the biggest discoveries the charity has been involved in, framed as "the progress we've made."

The site does not, in the material available here, list individual grants, named institutions, or specific disease subtypes. So the honest answer to "what research does it fund?" is that the charity presents its research as a portfolio aimed at changing the future of breast cancer, and directs readers to those two sections for the detail.

How the research mission connects to support work

Breast Cancer Now does not present research and support as separate activities. The homepage describes "combining the power of science and support to change breast cancer," and the same page moves directly from research content into practical help for people affected.

That combination shows up in concrete ways. For example, the charity's donation examples tie funding to both research and support outputs:

These are illustrative examples the charity uses to show how donations translate into activity — they are not a breakdown of its research budget.

Where to go for the research detail

If your question is specifically about funded projects, the site's own navigation is the place to start:

1. "About our research" — for what the charity says it is working on now.
2. "Research achievements" — for the discoveries it says it has been behind.

Both are linked from the homepage under the "Our life-saving science" section. The homepage itself gives the framing but not the project-level specifics, so anyone wanting names, institutions, or trial details will need to go deeper into those pages.

What this means if you're deciding whether to engage

• If you want to understand the science — start with the research and achievements sections rather than the homepage, which is oriented toward support, stories, and fundraising.
• If you want to donate and know where it goes — the charity publishes example donation amounts with stated outcomes, including research-related ones, but these are illustrative rather than a formal allocation breakdown.
• If you want support rather than research information — the same site offers specialist nurses you can call, email, or message, plus groups, courses, webinars, and one-to-one support. That is a separate pathway from the research content.

The site also notes that donations can be made via Apple Pay, and offers both one-off and regular giving options.

You can donate to Breast Cancer Now directly through its website, either as a one-off gift or a regular donation. The site lets you pick from preset amounts (£10, £20, £30) or enter your own, and Apple Pay is listed as a payment option. Each amount is tied to a specific outcome, so you can see roughly what your money funds before you give.

One-off vs regular donations

Breast Cancer Now offers two donation types on the same page, and the impact examples differ between them.

A one-off gift suits people who want to give once, at a moment that matters to them. A regular donation suits anyone who wants steady, predictable funding — the examples show it spread across support materials, research time and the charity's app.

What the money actually supports

The impact examples map to three areas of the charity's work:

• Information — printed guides such as Diagnosed with breast cancer: what now? and After breast cancer treatment, described on the site as written by experts to help people understand each step.
• Research — lab costs like test tubes for experiments on small samples, plus the broader research programme the charity says has been behind major discoveries in breast cancer research.
• Support services — the free, confidential helpline, where £30 "could help someone get vital answers," and the Becca support app, which £30 could keep running for a week.

These are illustrative examples the charity uses, not a breakdown of exactly where any single donation lands. Treat them as a sense of scale rather than a receipt.

How to make a donation

1. Go to the Breast Cancer Now website and find the Donate now section on the homepage.
2. Choose One-off or Regular.
3. Select a preset amount (£10/£20/£30 for one-off; £5/£15/£30 for regular) or enter your own figure in the £ field.
4. Complete checkout. Apple Pay is listed among the accepted payment methods.

The site does not state whether an account or login is required, so plan on completing the form as a guest unless you're told otherwise at checkout.

Other ways to give or get involved

If a straight donation isn't what you want, the site lists alternatives:

• Fundraising events — runs, walks, cycles and skydives you can sign up for.
• Volunteering — giving time and experience to support people affected by breast cancer.
• Campaigning — pushing for quicker, earlier diagnosis, access to treatments and personalised care.
• Wear It Pink — described as one of the UK's biggest fundraising events, with a date of Friday 23 October.

Before you donate

• Decide whether you want a single gift or an ongoing one; the impact examples differ, so pick the framing that matches what you care about most (research, information, or direct support).
• Check whether your employer offers donation matching — the site doesn't mention it, but it's a common way to increase a one-off gift.
• If you're donating in memory of someone or want your gift directed to a specific area, look for any designation options at checkout; the homepage donation module doesn't show them.

For anyone who wants to understand the cause first, the site also links to breast cancer information written by experts and a nurse helpline you can call, email or message — useful if you'd rather learn more before giving.

Breast Cancer Now offers a free, confidential "Talk to a nurse" service staffed by specialist breast cancer nurses. You can reach them by phone, email, or message to ask about breast cancer or breast health, and the charity describes the service as available whenever you need it. It's a good fit if you have a question about symptoms, a diagnosis, treatment, or living well with or after breast cancer, and you'd rather ask a specialist nurse than search alone.

What the service covers

According to Breast Cancer Now, its specialist nurses can answer questions about:

• Breast cancer — diagnosis, treatment, and what to expect at each step
• Breast health — concerns that aren't necessarily a cancer diagnosis
• Living well — practical and emotional questions during and after treatment

The charity also points people to its wider support, including groups, courses, webinars, and one-to-one support, for those who want to meet others in a similar situation.

Ways to get in touch

Breast Cancer Now lists three contact routes for its nurse service:

The site does not publish specific opening hours or response times in the material available here, so treat "whenever you need it" as the charity's stated intent rather than a confirmed 24/7 guarantee. If timing matters to you, check the current contact page before relying on a particular window.

How to prepare before you reach out

A little preparation makes a short call or message more useful:

1. Write down your main question first. If you have several, rank them so the most important one gets asked even if time runs short.
2. Note the key facts. Your age, any diagnosis or test results, treatments you're on, and relevant dates help the nurse give a more specific answer.
3. Say what you actually want. "I want to understand my options" and "I want reassurance that this symptom is normal" lead to different conversations.
4. Have a pen or notes app ready. Nurse conversations often cover more than expected, and it's easy to forget details afterwards.
5. Ask where to go next. If your question needs a doctor, the nurse can usually point you to the right kind of appointment or information.

What to expect — and what not to

• Confidential support. The charity describes the service as confidential, so you can raise personal concerns.
• Information, not a diagnosis. A nurse can explain breast cancer and breast health and help you understand what's happening, but this isn't a substitute for being examined or diagnosed by your own clinician.
• A starting point, not a full care team. For test results, prescriptions, or treatment decisions, you'll still need your GP, hospital team, or specialist.

If you're unsure whether your question is "serious enough" to ask, that uncertainty is itself a reasonable reason to make contact — the service exists for exactly that kind of question.

Other support on the same site

If a nurse conversation isn't what you need right now, Breast Cancer Now also offers:

• Trusted information written by experts, designed to explain each step of breast cancer
• Support groups, courses, webinars, and one-to-one support for people who want to talk to others who understand
• Real stories from people affected by breast cancer, which some people find helpful before or alongside professional support

You can use these alongside the nurse service rather than instead of it — many people start with written information and then call with the specific questions it raises.