Corby mum swaps boobs for boots on fundraising hike with I'm A Celeb winner Giovanna Fletcher

It’s free, it’s quick and it could save your life – that’s the message from a Corby woman due to take on a fundraising challenge to support the work of a breast cancer education charity CoppaFeel!

Mum-of-two and Kettering General Hospital (KGH) mammographer Suzie McConnell has seen first hand the devastation a late cancer diagnosis can have on patients and their families.

Now she’s swapping boobs for boots to take part in CoppaTrek!, a five-day 100km hike with 120 others led by celebrities including I'm a Celebrity... winner Giovanna Fletcher, drag queen Ella Vaday and Great British Bake Off winner, Candice Brown.

CoppaFeel! was founded by Daventry’s Kris Hallenga to educate young people around the importance of getting to know their boobs and be breast aware.

Suzie said: “I’m looking forward to the challenge and helping raise awareness of breast cancer.

"I’ve seen personally and professionally the impact it has when someone is diagnosed with cancer, not just on the individual but their family and friends.”

Before working at KGH Suzie was a therapeutic radiographer at Northampton General Hospital treating those diagnosed with breast cancer.

She said: "We need to make sure people are checking their bodies regularly and if something doesn’t feel right to get it checked out.

“I will set out on a challenging, extraordinary and life-changing trek, all in the name of checking chests, taking on 100km of the rugged and unforgiving Hadrian's Wall country in a bid to raise funds towards CoppaFeel's life-saving mission.

“Your donations will not only support my fundraising target, but most importantly CoppaFeel! They are on a mission to stamp out the late diagnosis of breast cancer by making sure that young people are regularly checking their boobs, pecs and chests and getting to know their bodies in order to have the confidence to see their GP if something just doesn't feel normal.”

Suzie’s husband Kevin, son Finley, 12, and 10-year-old daughter Leah will be keeping in touch with the trek from their home in Corby.

Kevin said: “Cancer is such a terrible disease. We have both had members of our families who have had cancer. What frustrates Suzie the most is people who don’t keep their screening appointments that they have made. It’s her way of raising awareness – it takes 10 minutes and it can save your life.”

Suzie, already a keen runner, is now in training and is two-thirds of the way to her £2,250 fundraising target and will be holding raffles to boost her total before the trek begins in June this year.

Kevin added: “She’s been wanting to do this for a long time – she’s a big supporter of raising awareness and she’s finally getting to join the trek.”

Trekkers will take on 100km of the world famous Hadrian's Wall Country in a bid to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds towards our life-saving mission.

To donate to Suzie’s fundraising for CoppaFeel! go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/suzie-mcconnell81

CoppaFeel!'s challenge events manager, Polly West said: “Each year we organise life-changing treks, with our patron Giovanna Fletcher at the helm, aiming to start life saving conversations about chest checking, and raise vital funds to allow CoppaFeel! to continue our mission to ensure all breast cancers are diagnosed early.”

Go to www.coppafeel.org.