Lorraine Kelly takes Change + Check to Parliament

Yesterday, (Monday 13th November) Lorraine Kelly took the trailblazing breast cancer campaign Change + Check to Parliament. 

Joined by Dr Hilary Jones and campaign founder Helen Addis, Change + Check gained support from MP’s such as Theresa May, Angela Rainer, and Florence Eshalomi, as the Change + Check choir also take on The Beatles this week, in a bid to get to the top of the charts with charity single ‘Golden‘.

Lorraine opened, “We are here at the Houses of Parliament and we’re asking MPs to protect Britain’s boobs and to get Change + Check on their manibreasto!”

Praising the campaign, Former Prime Minister Theresa May said, “The earlier you identify cancer, the earlier you catch it, the better the prognosis, the better it is for your health. A very simple thing can make a huge difference.” Angela Rayner MP said, “It’s an incredible campaign and I’m happy to support it. I’ll be fixing the stickers in our office, in our market street, our award-winning market in Ashton, so they’ll be in our town. I’ll get them everywhere I possibly can. But also, I’ll be downloading the single as well, ‘Golden’, to make sure I can help make that campaign and making sure everyone will do the same!”

Penny Mordaunt MP shared, “My mother had symptoms [of breast cancer] and she put it down to digging the allotments. So recognising the changes that are happening to your body is one way we can ensure people are really flagging things, as well as getting regular screenings and understanding if they’re at high risk.” She added, “Thank you to everyone at Lorraine for this campaign because it’ll make a big difference and we want to support it.”

To date, the campaign has helped over 67 women to detect and therefore get treated for breast cancer. The majority of those women are under the screening age which highlights the importance of being breast-aware.

Currently number 2 in the iTunes Top British Songs chart, ‘Golden’ by Lorraine’s Change + Check choir, featuring Joss Stone, is hoping to overtake The Beatles and secure the number one spot, raising money for breast cancer charity Future Dreams. The single is also dedicated to Hannah Hawkins, 33, a producer for Lorraine who recently passed away from secondary breast cancer.

Florence Eshalomi MP also shared, “It’s so vital. I work in such a diverse constituency and for a number of BME women, we don’t often talk about our boobs, it’s seen as a taboo subject, so this Change + Check campaign is so vital, so important. We know that early detection works and it’s really important that all these women come forward and check and get advice.”

Craig Tracey MP said, “People from all different parties are here today. They all want to sign up, and they all want to get involved. You’ve got basically over 600 advocates – they know their constituencies, and we should use those MPs for things like this. We can all come together on this and we all just want the best outcome for our local people.”

Joss Stone and the Change+Check choir perform on Lorraine (Friday, November 10th)

Lorraine weekdays from 9am on ITV1 & ITVX