CoppaFeel! was born out of one person sharing their personal story in the hope it would help others. Today, we’re still rooted in the breast cancer community, championing lived experiences and real stories to help more people recognise the signs of breast cancer, check their chest regularly and seek help sooner.
If you’ve got a lived experience of breast cancer and would like to share this with us, please get in touch.
While we promise to read every story, we cannot guarantee that there will always be opportunities to get involved. However, we’ll continue to keep in touch as and when an opportunity to share your story comes up.
We’ve worked with Alice-May Purkiss, former CoppaFeel! Trustee, Boobette, coach, storyteller and one time cancer haver to inform this work. Alice was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 26 and fast became part of the CoppaFeel! Community.
Outside of the work she did with us, she had some experiences of telling her story of breast cancer which weren’t as positive.
Working alongside theatremaker Toby Peach, Alice set out to change the way people are utilised for their cancer stories through their podcast AfterThoughts. Having worked with swathes of young people to empower them to tell their story in a way which worked for them through the podcast and beyond, CoppaFeel! asked Alice to help make sure they were working with storytellers in the best way possible.
Through training, policies and wellbeing support developed with Alice, we pride ourselves on always striving to give storytellers the most positive and empowering experience possible when sharing their lived experience.
Brodie was 24 when she found a lump while she was rearranging her bra.
Read Brodie’s story
At 19, Ruby watched a CoppaFeel! Youtube video on chest checking – and found a lump.
Read Ruby’s story
Fole received her positive BRCA 2 result at 24, and felt prepared for the result after genetic counselling sessions.
Read Fole’s story
At 24, Nikhar was diagnosed with breast cancer whilst living away from her family.
Read Nikhar’s story
Our ‘Feelings’ campaign features Robyn, Dhvani, and Amber, who were all diagnosed with breast cancer between the ages of 19 and 26.
Storytellers Anisa and Erin chatted to Leanne Pero (Founder, Black Women Rising) at the 2026 CoppaFeel! Conference on breast cancer as a younger person – talking about life through and beyond treatment.
CoppaFeel! exists because our founder, Kris Hallenga, shared her own story. Diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at 23, Kris turned her experience into a mission. She wanted all young people to be able to spot the signs of breast cancer early and advocate for their health if they noticed a change.
Her memoir, Glittering a Turd, has since been re-released in a new edition.
Read about the new edition of Kris’ story and memoir
Our Storytellers are people with a lived experience of, or close connection to, breast cancer who generously share their personal experiences. The stories they tell are their own lived experiences turning lived experience into powerful awareness. By describing them as ‘storytellers’ as opposed to ‘case study’, we recognise the real human alongside the story.
CoppaFeel! Storytellers are people who have chosen to share their lived experience of cancer to help save lives. We rely on people to share their stories with us and our audience to provide real examples of the importance of checking your chest and the impact early diagnosis can have.
Every story is unique, and every story has the power to help someone else. By sharing your story with CoppaFeel!, you’re helping us reach more young people with our chest-checking message and making sure our work is rooted in the real experiences of the community we exist to serve.
Each and every story shared will be read by a member of the Engagement and Inclusion Team. After you share your story, we will be in touch to set up an informal chat to introduce you to the team, ask any further questions we may have about your story and understand the formats and way that you would like to share your story with CoppaFeel! This may sometimes take a bit of a time, especially during busier periods of our work but working this way makes sure we see our storytellers for who they are – real people with real stories and who help us make real impact.
We share stories in a variety of ways, primarily either written (such as on our website, blog, external news sites, press releases, etc) or in-person (such as media appearances, podcasts, photoshoots etc.) By sharing your story, you are able to select the type of opportunities you’d be interested in, and we will always check with you when we share an opportunity to ensure that you feel comfortable with the way your story will be used.
We want you to share your story in your own words, and to only ever include what feels comfortable for you. If we are writing up your story, we may need to amend the language to make it more concise or to spotlight something in order to make the biggest impact we can. We will always share this with you for your approval.
Any information you share with us will be stored securely and will only be accessed by the CoppaFeel! team members who need it to support you and manage Storyteller opportunities.
We will never share your personal information or your story outside of CoppaFeel! without your knowledge and consent. Before any story is published or shared publicly, we’ll always speak to you about how it will be used and make sure you’re happy to go ahead.
You can also change your mind at any point. If you no longer want us to use your story, or would like us to update or remove your information where possible, we will work with you to make that possible.
CoppaFeel! wouldn’t be where it is today without the generosity of the breast cancer community, whose personal stories have helped raise awareness through our volunteer programmes, campaigns and media work. Those stories bring our mission to life and have been instrumental in helping us reach more people with our life-saving message.
For many years, we relied on the kindness of people sharing their experiences to support our work. As we’ve grown, we’ve built the infrastructure to give back to the community at the heart of everything we do. That’s why, moving forward, we will pay for all Storyteller opportunities (unless stated otherwise).
We want to ensure we engage with the breast cancer community in a way that is fair and non-extractive. Financial remuneration is a small token of our appreciation and a recognition of the time, energy and emotional labour involved in sharing your story.
Real stories
Check your chest
Get a reminder
e-learning
Resources
Breast cancer information