What your money can do

Cancer Research UK is the biggest single funder of research into breast cancer in the UK. Our work has been at the heart of dramatic advances in breast cancer treatment over the last few decades.

Our research is beating breast cancer – help us fight harder

Every penny you raise helps us continue our life-saving work to beat breast cancer and raise breast cancer awareness.

And it really does make a difference. The number of women dying from breast cancer has fallen to less than 12,000 for the first time in almost 40 years.

Currently, 8 out of 10 women with breast cancer now survive beyond 5 years, compared with 5 out of 10 women in the 1970s. Your support is vital to help us ensure that survival rates continue to rise.

How funds are spent

Here are some examples of how your fundraising contribution – big or small – can help:

• £10 could buy around 300 glass slides for studying cells and tumour samples in detail under the microscope. Scientists need to study breast cancer cells in intricate detail – this helps them understand how the disease develops and spreads and how they can stop this happening with new treatments.
• £20 could equip a scientist with a lab coat and a pair of safety goggles. These essential items help protect against harmful chemicals and prevent crucial experiments from getting contaminated. Without this basic equipment our scientists couldn't carry out their life-saving research into breast cancer.
• £60 could buy around 500 plastic petri dishes. They're an essential resource for thousands of scientists who are working hard to understand cancer.
• £150 could pay for three pairs of cryogenic gloves, worn when retrieving very cold cell and tissue samples from a -80ºC freezer or a liquid nitrogen storage tank. Our scientists need to be able to store these precious samples for long periods of time during their research projects.
• £260 could buy a sophisticated microarray to help scientists scrutinise thousands of genes in a single experiment. Microarrays are a powerful piece of gene technology which allow researchers to compare how active different genes are in cancer cells and healthy cells. This technology is being used to pinpoint new genes linked to breast cancer – crucial information that could help doctors identify women who are most at risk of the disease in future.

Real stories

Sarah Baldwin was diagnosed with stage 3 aggressive breast cancer in 2003. She says: "Research into breast cancer is crucial to helping women like me survive. I'm still here today because of people like you, fundraising and dedicating your time to cancer research."

Read Sarah's full story and other real stories from inspirational women who have survived breast cancer.

Raise money

You can help beat breast cancer by fundraising in your local area, making a donation or buying our breast cancer awareness merchandise.

Download our special edition of the Cancer Research UK podcast, which is dedicated to breast cancer.

Find out more about our breast cancer research and our current campaigns.