A WOMAN who beat breast cancer has launched her own charity to help others become survivors, too.

Pat Counsell, of Somerset Road, Rishton, is in the 74 percent of women who have survived the disease, but the fate of the other 26 percent played on her mind and convinced her to help.

So she has started UK Survivors and affiliated it to the Cancer Research Group. Her idea is to recruit as many survivors as possible and get them and four friends to save 20p per day.

This means women who beat breast cancer could save £30 each month. The money will be donated to the Patterson Institute, Manchester, a research centre linked to the Christie Hospital.

One of their doctors, Pat Price, is researching into early diagnosis techniques, such as technology that could detect cancer the size of a pin head.

Pat hopes the money donated will improve the survival rate of a disease which she says is beatable if caught early.

She had a mastectomy two years ago and has to wait five years before being given the definite all-clear. Pat, 73, said: "It was a life thing -- I thought am I going to live or die. I thought about my family and the children. "I've known people who have died. It's a waste of life. If they'd been diagnosed early they would've survived. As soon as I recovered I thought, I have to help others.

"The idea just sort of developed. My daughter and I saved a £1 a day and had managed to save £1,400. This stuck in my mind. I thought there were so many survivors that they could do something for those who are dying."

Pat aims to recruit survivors by travelling to every cancer support group in Lancashire. Her task begins next Tuesday, when she visits the Blackburn support group at Beardwood Hospital.

Anyone interested in becoming a UK Survivor should contact Pat on 01254 885668, or e-mail her on

uksurvivors@hotmail.com