Kettering National Lottery millionaire affected by breast cancer takes on sponsored walk with pals for National Best Friends Day

A group of National Lottery winners and charity fundraisers who have become ‘breast friends’ have completed a sponsored walk for a cause close to their hearts.

Since Maxine Lloyd won £1m last year she has dedicated herself to fundraising to support charities including breast cancer charity, Breast Friends Northamptonshire.

Maxine and her lucky pals donated bespoke patient treatment bags, and now they have come together again in aid of another cancer charity, this time raising more than £2,000 by completing a sponsored walk.

To celebrate National Best Friends Day (June 8), the group of lottery-winning friends walked to support Maxine, who was undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer when she discovered she had become a millionaire.

Maxine said: “With a little help from National Lottery friends who have themselves had a bit of lottery luck, but who have also been touched by breast cancer, we again came together to try to make a real difference to women with breast cancer.

"Back in April we supported Breast Friends Northamptonshire, a charity started by the amazing Leonie Heard in 2017 after she underwent treatment for breast cancer herself.

“It was such a heartwarming day that a few of us decided to continue our own charity-supporting ‘Best Friends’ group, this time by walking either 10 or 20 miles to raise money for another amazing charity, Breast Cancer Now. Our pink ribbon walk in the spectacular grounds at Blenheim Palace was amazing. It was very different to packing treatment bags but no less satisfying knowing we were again trying to make a difference.”

Back in April, Maxine and a group of National Lottery winners, who have all in some way been affected by breast cancer, filled bags for Breast Friends Northamptonshire with feel-good items like cosmetics, blankets, water bottles and even fluffy socks.

And many of the same group walked either 10 or 20 miles with Maxine at Blenheim Palace in aid of Breast Cancer Now, the breast cancer research and care charity.

The group of National Lottery winners included Viv Moss - £6.5m; Taryn & Grant Hawkes - £1m; Maxine Lloyd - £1m; Dione Buss - £1.8m and Zoe Hoare - £1m.

Maxine, an occupational therapist for the NHS, was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2021 after she noticed a change in her skin texture. She had surgery in December and on Christmas Eve 2021 received the news that the lump had been successfully removed. Maxine continued to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy as there was a high chance the cancer could return, and it was during her radiotherapy treatment that she won £1,000,000 on The National Lottery’s Mega Cash Showdown Instant Win Game in the summer of 2022.

Maxine explained: “I had always thought that you just had to look for lumps, but I noticed that my skin texture had changed in one area, a sort of dimpling. Thank heavens I called the doctor because we caught a lump the size of a golf ball early enough to treat it.

“I hope that both the creation of the Breast Friends treatment bags and the fundraising walk in aid of Breast Cancer Now show the variety of things people can do to support these deserving charities. But also, to communicate the need for women to regularly check themselves.”