Breast cancer survivor says her charity ‘shouldn’t exist’ after being made MBE

Leanne Pero criticised larger cancer organisations for not providing enough support to minority ethnic groups.

Ms Pero was recognised for her services to charity, particularly to minority ethnic people with cancer (Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

A breast cancer survivor has said the charity she founded should not have to exist as she was recognised with a royal honour for her work.

Leanne Pero, from London, criticised larger cancer organisations for not providing enough support to minority ethnic groups after being made an MBE at Windsor Castle.

The 38-year-old founded her own foundation and support group Black Women Rising after being diagnosed with breast cancer aged 30, and has since helped more than 500 women also dealing with the disease.

A cancer charity, like mine, so grassroots, shouldn't exist because the other charities, bigger charities, should be getting the healthcare right (and) the support packages and the programmes that they run should be able to connect with the whole of our UK-wide community

Leanne Pero

She was recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list last year for her services to charity, particularly to minority ethnic people with cancer.

Ms Pero told the PA news agency: “I never wanted to start a cancer charity – I’m creative, I run a dance company, I still run that dance company and I love it.

“A cancer charity, like mine, so grassroots, shouldn’t exist because the other charities, bigger charities, should be getting the healthcare right (and) the support packages and the programmes that they run should be able to connect with the whole of our UK-wide community.

“The fact that these women come through our doors and say ‘We’re not getting the right support anywhere else, no one else has offered us the right support’, for me, that means we’re still getting it wrong.

“Lots has changed in the last five years I’ve been doing this work, but there’s still so much more to go.”

The Leanne Pero Foundation was initially set up in 2019 to help with Ms Pero’s former profession of business mentoring before turning into an informal meet-up group for women affected by cancer.

It now includes two magazines, in-person and online support groups, monthly coffee mornings and a nurse support line, and works with healthcare providers and other charities to diversify their policies and campaigns.

Ms Pero said: “What I really believe is one of the reasons there was a lot of problems around people not necessarily relating to cancer in our communities, or people not feeling that actually black and brown people even got cancer, was around the lack of education in the communities, a lack of feeling that they were being represented when it comes to the overall message of cancer.”

She added: “It’s not easy running a charity, especially a charity that focuses on race. I’ve been viciously trolled and had death threats, all of it.

“What keeps me going is when I get a message from a young girl and she’s like ‘I found my breast cancer because of you’, or ‘I’m now thriving after cancer because I’ve seen you doing it and I’ve seen you living’, and that is what’s really important to me.”

Ms Pero described being made an MBE as “a beautiful thing” and said she had a “brilliant conversation” with the Prince of Wales, who held the ceremony.

She said she wanted to see more commitments from political parties to conduct research into cancer rates among minority ethnic groups to support her work.