Surrey GP and cancer survivor stars in national TV and ad campaign
Dr Mei-Ling Lancashire spoke to ITV News Meridian's Mel Bloor
As a doctor, Mei-Ling Lancashire was always the one listening attentively and giving advice to worried patients.
But that changed abruptly two years ago when she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer.
Now Mei-Ling, 43, a single mother of two to Jasmine, seven and Sophia, five, is at the heart of a new national advertising and fundraising drive from Cancer Research UK.
She is one of the stars of the charity’s ‘Together We Are Beating Cancer’ campaign and features on a TV advert as well as billboards and posters on display across the UK, during September.
Cancer Research UK's ‘Together We Are Beating Cancer’ video
Dr Lancashire, who is senior partner at Park House Surgery in Bagshot, said: “It can be difficult for a doctor to be a patient. It’s a surreal experience to be on the other side of treatment.
“On one hand I was processing things as a doctor - almost a default setting so I was asking about things like markers and staging.
“But partly that was self-protection. Taking a clinical approach meant I could go into ‘doctor mode’ and not have to connect with what was happening to me personally.
“I felt like I was looking death in the face, my girls were two and four at the time, I couldn’t leave them, I couldn’t die.”
Dr Lancashire had chemotherapy from September to January 2022 including the drugs epirubicin, paclitaxel and cyclophosphamide before undergoing a bilateral mastectomy in February.
Researchers funded by the Cancer Research Campaign (which preceded Cancer Research UK) supported early work on nitrogen mustard-based chemotherapy in the 1940s, which paved the way for drugs such as cyclophosphamide.
Thirteen weeks after her operations, Mei-Ling completed Ride London 100 and five months later ran the London marathon. Her fundraising for Cancer Research UK has now topped £25,000.
She is also swimming the Serpentine in September to raise further funds.
Dr Lancashire said: “Not only have I run the London marathon and done Ride 100 but I’ve done a coaching diploma and I’m doing one in lifestyle medicine. Those kind of things were hard to imagine when I heard those devastating words ‘it’s cancer.’
"That’s why I’m starring in this vitally important fundraising campaign to help ensure that the life-saving progress in research can continue and more families like mine can make more moments that matter.
“Sadly, not everyone diagnosed with cancer will reach key milestones – and that’s why the charity’s work is so vital. I wouldn’t be here without the scientists who strive to find new ways to outsmart cancer and the incredible fundraisers who make it all possible.
"So, now I’m happy to do what I can to show my support. I hope I can inspire other people to do the same. They could help bring hope and joy to more families like mine.”