Following her late diagnosis, my bright and unassuming daughter, Jessica, wanted people to know what had happened to her and wanted things to change.

On Thursday the 8th of December parliament held a cancer services debate. Steve Brine, Health and Social Care Select Committee Chair, referenced Jess during his contribution.

“i do not agree that it can ever be premature to call for more to be done to make progress on early diagnosis when failing to achieve the target could mean many hundreds of thousands of people missing out on early diagnosis and, of course, on a better chance of surviving their cancer and living for longer.

The Committee heard extremely powerful examples of why it is so important to make more and faster progress on diagnosing cancers earlier. In December 2020, Andrea Brady’s daughter Jess died of stage 4 adenocarcinoma at the age of just 27 years old. Before her diagnosis, Jess had been passed from pillar to post, consulting repeatedly with multiple GPs and other clinicians before her mother was finally forced to pay for a private consultation just to get Jess a diagnosis. By that point, tragically, it was too late. Jess passed away in hospital three and a half weeks after she was diagnosed.

Meeting the target of diagnosing 75% of cancers at an early stage would mean giving thousands of people a better chance of surviving their cancer, and thousands fewer families having to suffer such terrible losses.”

This is the 5th time Jess has been spoken about in parliament. I am so proud of my courageous, kind and talented daughter, who gave so much in her 27 years and continues to do so.

I am also incredibly proud and grateful to all of you, for  your unflinching support and dedication. Please keep sharing this petition and continuing to make a difference. 

We are set to meet with Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care again on the 12th January 2023. We will continue to campaign for change for Jess and for all those who have lost their lives far too soon.