Breast Cancer Now exists to support people experiencing breast cancer. With around 55,000 women and 400 men being diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK every year, most of us know someone who has been affected by this disease.

Stories of Secondary uses long-form storytelling to uncover the stories of real women living in the UK with incurable secondary breast cancer. Throughout the film, we explore a range of perspectives, including previously unheard truths. These experiences are woven together to create a raw and powerful film on the realities of living with the most devastating version of this disease.

In the UK, secondary breast cancer is a taboo subject within the breast cancer community and beyond. Primary breast cancer patients dominate the conversation with stories of survival, recovery, and the pink feather boa-ed world of fun-runs. This leaves those with secondary breast cancer, for which there is no cure, feeling left out of the limelight, their stories unheard and unseen. For these people, life-changing research that is funded by charities like Breast Cancer Now, is the only thing that can improve their quality of life and give them more time to live, so it’s imperative that their stories are told.

This film puts the experiences of those living with the disease front-and-centre and aims to change the narrative on secondary breast cancer. We hear about a lack of understanding amongst medical professionals of how skin colour can alter known symptoms, and how this impacts diagnoses for people of colour. We hear about changing perceptions, from viewing the disease as a death sentence, to a liveable, chronic illness. And we hear about how it feels to want children or have children when living with an incurable disease.

This film tackles all these important issues head-on, through the voices of the people that matter the most, those living with incurable secondary breast cancer.

62,000 people are currently living in the UK with incurable secondary breast cancer.

Secondary breast cancer is the name given to the disease when it has spread from the breast to other parts of the body. There is currently no cure for secondary breast cancer, but that doesn't mean there isn't hope. It is treatable and the research that Breast Cancer Now helps fund can help people live well for longer.

Our brief from Breast Cancer Now was to educate people about living with secondary breast cancer and give those living with the disease a platform through which to share their voices and to feel seen.

Our objectives were to share a side to the story of living with the disease that had never been shared before, whilst always remaining respectful and empathetic when handling such a sensitive topic.

In our first year working with Breast Cancer Now, we opened up the conversation on primary breast cancer, with work that took an unflinching view on how it feels to experience the disease. In this second year, we created this film to run shortly after Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to reinforce Breast Cancer Now’s continued commitment to speaking openly and honestly about breast cancer in order to support those affected, this time with incurable secondary breast cancer as its main focus.

It's not uncommon to see adverts and pieces of communication about breast cancer, but it's extremely rare to hear about secondary. By shining the spotlight on an often-overlooked community, we were able to build trust and advocacy amongst a very vocal group of people who are impacted by the disease. The film was celebrated by this community for its sensitive and honest portrayal of secondary breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Now describe themselves as the “research and support charity”. It’s easy to see the human side of support, but how do you humanise a charity’s research? We looked to the people for whom research is the most valuable lifeline, those living with incurable secondary breast cancer.

We asked them to tell us what Breast Cancer Now’s research means to them and what they’d do if that research gave them the one thing they need; more time. What resulted, were a number of eye-opening and compelling stories that lift the lid on living with an incurable disease and demonstrate that there is no one way to live with secondary breast cancer. Each person’s outlook, experience and dreams are different and, in this film, we share just a few of them. A flavour of what is happening in the 62,000 UK households currently coping with a secondary breast cancer diagnosis.

Authenticity and honesty were the pillars of this film.

We needed to do everything in our power to bring to life each participant's story in the most truthful and powerful way possible. From the graceful and unintrusive camera movements to the characterful framing, we did everything we could to give each woman the space they needed to share their unique perspectives without judgement.

Naturally, with us working on a limited charity budget we had very little resource. But the time we did have, we spent closely working with the women, getting to know them and making them feel as comfortable as possible in being authentically themselves in front of the camera.

What we created was a film full of emotion, but also hope. A film that was shared around the secondary breast cancer community and beyond. Giving people the true insight that we originally set out to capture and share.

Before the film went live, people with secondary breast cancer were actively posting on Breast Cancer Now's social channels, highlighting their feelings of being ignored and underappreciated.

Needless to say, as soon as the film went live the conversation switched. The social channels were adorned with appreciation and love from those with and without secondary alike.

The video was shared and viewed thousands of times across a variety of channels.

We managed to give those living with secondary breast cancer a platform through which to express themselves. And we showed the world that when Breast Cancer Now say "We're here" for everyone affected by breast cancer, they truly mean it.