A HEXHAM midwife and her best friends are backing Cancer Research UK’s campaign for World Cancer Day and urging everyone to join them by wearing the charity’s unity band on February 4.

Claire Milburn has teamed up with friends Linzy Thirlaway and Claire Lisle to keep the memory of their friend Jenny Thirlaway alive.

Jenny died in July 2018 aged 46 after being diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer.

Both Claire and Jenny worked together as midwives at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle before Jenny left her role due to health problems in her family.

Jenny later learned that she had terminal bowel cancer with only a year to live. She started a blog called ‘Elvis may have left the building but Jenny is in no hurry to leave the bloc’ where she referred to her group of friends as sisters and having an enduring loving, strong friendship.

The group is now asking everyone to unite and show their support on World Cancer Day and help Cancer Research UK to tackle the disease.

Claire, who also lost her mum to cancer, said: “Supporting a campaign like this helps us to keep Jenny’s memory alive, but it’s not difficult as she made such an impact in our lives and on those further away.

“She was the organiser of the group and would always be telling us when we were going to meet and what we would be doing and it would always be an extravagant fun adventure.

“Although we were all best friends, she reached so many other people and she received many messages from people around the world who had read her blog saying how much she had helped them.

“World Cancer Day is a moment to remember Jenny and all of our loved ones who have been affected by cancer. There’s still so much work to be done in research to stop the devastation it causes.”