I had surgery for womb cancer 28^th Feb 2007, and although no one knew I had, when I returned to work 6 weeks later I realised the staff group might have no idea what to look out for and something clicked in my brain to say I must speak out or people will die. And I haven’t stopped talking since!

When I began nursing in 1967, one of the first patients I nursed was a woman dying of womb cancer, because no one talked about it, no one knew the signs and symptoms and almost invariably women mentioned it when it was too late to do anything. Thankfully things have changed! Pantscancer,co,uk is being updated to provide information and for you to access links.

Sadly few people talk about womb cancer and often, but certainly not exclusively, it affects older women and the key symptom is post-menopausal bleeding… which I ignored… if you present to your GP with bleeding after your periods have stopped, you will be fast tracked to the Gynae Cancer team at your local hospital where experts will decide if you need further treatment.

How Pants began

During my regular follow up with the gynae cancer surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, the wonderful Mr Tito Lopes, I mentioned that I wanted to raise awareness of pants area cancers and asked for his support. He readily agreed once he had seen and approved a Mission Statement which I rushed home and completed. The whole team got on board and have been wonderfully supportive including appearing in one of our first calendars in their pants! Mr Peter Callen, now retired, had set up the gynae cancer department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital and he too has been wonderfully supportive as have their lovely families.

I dreamed that one day we would have television advertising reminding women to have their smear tests and to learn about the signs and symptoms of all the pants area cancers. I did not know about the Human papilloma Virus at that stage and the part it plays in pants area cancers, but I do now and campaigned for it to be offered to young men as well as young women since passing it round was normally by sexually activity and it worried me that by giving the preventive vaccine to young women only sent out a message that they spread the HPV, when clearly anyone can.

I had leaflets and stood on street corners, in supermarket foyers, handing them out trying to spread the word about smear tests for cervical cancers and what to look out for with womb cancer. Ovarian cancer etc. It was surprising how many people did not want to engage… it made me work harder on interpersonal skills and how else to get people interested.

As a result, Eden Rocks for Pants took place as I realised the value of music in connecting with young people figuring that I could hand out leaflets which would probably get thrown in the bin!

The music was wonderful with Rosie and the Goldbug headlining and Mr Lopes getting to speak about gynae cancers and loads of young people having a great time and afterwards there were many hits on the website. That was the desired intention and it worked!  Since then I have worked on getting groups involved and for a while we had Will Keating producing a Folk night at our Waterside Cafe every second Wed of each month. The cafe, though sadly no longer, was a wonderful resource open to the public and allowed those using the adjacent CancerRehab Centre can come and chat after their sessions.

But I am ahead of myself! Back to the beginning…

Mrs Mary May launched Pants and as the mayor of Penryn it gave the budding organisation kudos which enabled me to knock on doors and get people interested.

Soon after Roger and I were near Penzance having coffee and saw a great picture up on the wall and fortunately contact details and the relationship with Chris and Rachel began. Kevern photography as they were then enabled me to engage with the media which I realised was vital if I was going to get people interested in their gynae health. I had watched Tim Smit of the Eden project, and how he successfully manipulated the media and learned a lot! Chris and Rachel were simply wonderful and their pictures fabulous. We made calendars and leaflets, and all were eye catching.

Early on Carleen Kellerman contacted me- she had been instrumental in getting European funding for Tremough Campus and many other projects and was interested in what I was up to. She offered to meet to give advice and we enjoyed coffee at the Falmouth hotel. The two clear messages from the meeting were – when handling public money I must be very careful and I needed to do a business plan…. much food for thought!

I spoke to many people including the Rotarians, local businesspeople, Charities, groups etc asking them about how they got their message across about what they did.  I learned so much!

I was fortunate enough to meet Margaret Fitter whose shop in Helston was firstly raising money for Macmillan and then later Cancer funding for Cornwall. Margaret was a member of the patients group at the Royal Cornwall hospital and we chatted about the shop and I went to look.

Sometime later while pondering the business plan I walked past the Old Post Office, Killigrew Street Falmouth, and saw it was for rental so rang up Miller Commercial to find out what it might cost so I could put it in the business plan. By the end of the day I was speaking to the landlord, agreeing a half price deal, explaining I had no experience of retail so if it didn’t work could I get out… all agreed and I was in three weeks later, still nursing part time at King Charles Court nursing home in Falmouth, where later they looked after my mum who had dementia so wonderfully well…

I had no help, no retail knowledge, no idea if it would work… a leap in the dark… my dear husband who is a businessman and never acts impulsively must have been horrified!

Meanwhile the brain was in overdrive… how to get people to know what I was up to… Spotlight TV came down; I spoke on radio Cornwall. Kevern pictures helped me engage with the media… and the bags of donations never stopped coming in. At one point I thought I might be lost under the pile of bags and never be seen again!

Eventually Anne came along… and was everything I am not, someone who knew about retail and loved clothes and understood what would sell and how to price… she was my rock from then till she left aged 70 to marry the love of her life, Jonty Mitchell, who she probably should have married first time round! Oh, how I missed her – among the many things she taught me was that age is no barrier to anything… she worked harder than anyone before or since!

Then Mr Lopes’s family came to help and others who were so important in setting it all up. Many customers still come in especially those whose children have grown up wearing our clothes, buying our toys, learning to read with our books… oh what a journey it has been and so many amazing people have supported Pants, my gratitude knows no bounds.