Worthing charity event offers cancer journey hope

SussexWorld

A five-hour charity Hoop-A-Thon will celebrate Christen Williams’ remarkable turn-around in the five years since opting to have a double mastectomy in the face of increasing cancer risk.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, and I'm

00:06really lovely to speak to Kristen Williams today. And now, Kristen, you are going to

00:10do something really remarkable, aren't you? A five-hour Hoopathon in Worthing on Saturday

00:18the 25th of January, but doing it for the most serious reasons, aren't you? Five years

00:23ago you had an elective preventative double mastectomy, didn't you? Why did you do that?

00:30So I found out probably nearly 10 years ago that I carried the BRCA gene alteration, which

00:36meant I had really high risks of getting breast and ovarian cancer. So I had a preventative

00:43mastectomy, obviously, to stop that happening, with a reconstruction as well. So it's five

00:48years on from that operation.

00:50And this is your celebration of that. And in the meantime, of course, you've set up

00:54the charity. Tell me about the charity. What does the charity exist to do?

00:58So BRCA Chat, we started three years ago, so we've been registered for just over three

01:03years. And for me, it was because when I was going through all of this, I just felt so

01:08lonely, and I didn't know any friends or family who were going through the same thing. And

01:13I actually found a lot of solace on Instagram, talking to other women who were going through

01:18similar things. And I started raising awareness and just realised the demand for it. So many

01:24people were messaging me asking for support, advice, saying, you know, they were feeling

01:28how I had been feeling. And it just kind of snowballed from there. The more I did, the

01:32more people wanted to get involved. So we just thought, a group of us just thought,

01:36let's set this up. I've got me and a co-founder in Scotland. And yeah, it's just to help people

01:42through this process. And it makes so much difference when you've got other people who've

01:47done it before you. So yeah, that's why we set it up.

01:50That's a terrific thing to have done, to be able to feed back all that you needed and

01:54didn't have. And the idea of the five hours is it's a year for each of the years since

01:59the mistakes made. And in your JustGiving page, you say a remarkable thing, which I'm

02:04going to throw back at you. I lost my boobies five years ago, but I've gained so much in

02:09the process. Explain that. What have you gained?

02:13You know what? I say that to a lot of people who are going through this as well. Because

02:17when you're in it, when you're just about to have that operation, that's all you can

02:22think about. So for me, it was very aesthetic. What am I going to look like? Are people going

02:29to fancy me? That sort of thing. And it was such a focus on looks. And when I came through

02:35it and I woke up and I was alive, I had this huge literal weight off my chest and relief

02:41about just being alive and being healthy. And I think it made me appreciate life a lot

02:46more. And with the charity, we support a lot of people who have been diagnosed with cancer

02:50as well. And it's just that it's a different perspective on health and our bodies and what

02:55they're there for. Do you consider yourself a different person now, do you think?

03:04What's that, sorry? Are you essentially the same person or are you different, do you think?

03:08I think I'm more of myself. I embrace myself more. And my co-founder always says that she

03:15loves her body more now because you just have this different respect that you can

03:19go under the knife and have such a serious long operation and your body recovers. And

03:25you just have this respect for it. And that's what I try and kind of focus on when people

03:30are so fixated on the looks of it and what you're going to look like. Just that respect for health,

03:37body, life. But also, I've just met the most amazing people through this. And I love bringing

03:43them all together. That's part of the charity is putting on events and socials. And so people can

03:49make friends and you just, they're all incredible. They're all going through such hardships. A lot

03:53of us have lost family members due to cancer. It's hereditary. But we're kind of like united

04:00in this grief and loss, but in a positive way. So yeah, I've gained a lot. I've learned a lot.

04:06Fantastic. So that's a wonderful thing to do. And it's going to be from your home, but live streamed

04:11from 10am on Saturday, January 25th. People wanting to tune into the live stream should look where?

04:18Yeah, on our Instagram, it's Brecca, which is BRCA underscore chat. So Brecca chat.

04:25And I'll be doing an AMA, ask me anything throughout. Boyfriend behind the camera.

04:31That's the ultimate patting your head and rubbing your tummy, isn't it? To be hula hooping

04:35and speaking at the same time. A cup of tea whilst doing it, maybe. That's my challenge.

04:40I might practice that one. Boyfriend's making boob cupcakes for any kind of friends and family

04:45who are going to come on and cheer and support me throughout the five hours. So yeah, I'm trying to,

04:51and I'm also trying to make it fun, like fundraising. I'm trying to put the fun into

04:55fundraising and that it's something that's hard and challenging, but also you can enjoy doing it

05:00the same time. So the fundraising at the moment, you're at £1,705. What do you think you could

05:06reach? I don't know. I've put my target as £2,000. I keep upping it because people keep

05:10being so lovely and generous. So I don't know. I shall include the just giving people's reference.

05:20Good luck. Lovely to speak to you. Thank you.

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