When Davina McCall revealed the shock news that she had breast cancer in October 2025, she thanked the invaluable advice from Change and Check posters in the ITV loos for helping her catch the disease early.
It was a bittersweet moment of pride for Helen Addis MBE, the creator of the breast cancer awareness campaign, to discover her work had helped save the life of another person.
“We had 250 women and one man come forward to say that they found their breast cancer as a result of seeing the campaign, and then it turns out one of those people was Davina. She'd just nipped in the loos, saw the poster, had a quick check and was like, ah right.
“All I want is for people to know their bodies and what is normal for them. Don’t be scared, check your boobs and go to the doctor as soon as you think something might be slightly wrong. It could save your life.”
© Mandatory credit Ken McKay/ITV/ShutterstockThe idea for the campaign, which has now been endorsed by the NHS, came to TV producer Helen seven years ago when she was having treatment for her own aggressive form of breast cancer. The mother of two was just days away from her 40th birthday when she was diagnosed, way below the national screening age of 50.
“I don't have any family history of breast cancer so it really sort of knocked me sideways,” she says. “I thought God, if I can get it, anybody can. I didn't tick any of the boxes for cancer. I wasn't overweight, I was 39, don’t smoke, just all the stereotypical things that you associate a cancer diagnosis with I didn't have.
“When I went through my chemo, I would invite different groups of family and friends to come and chemo with me. And I would ask them during the session ‘you do check yourselves, don't you?’
“I would say 95% of my closest friends and family just said, no. They didn't know what to look for and were too scared to find something; their boobs were too big, or too small.
“So I thought, well, I found my lump when I stood in front of a mirror, so I came up with the idea of these reminder stickers to go on changing room mirrors in shops and gyms and maybe it might prompt somebody to have a bit of a feel and look around. So, it kind of launched from there, really.”
© Alamy Stock PhotoTo make light of a dark situation, Helen kept the momentum going by coming up with ridiculous campaigns to raise awareness such as climbing the O2 and turning it into a giant boob, launching a hot air ‘boob balloon’, travelling around on a ‘boob bus’ and getting Lorraine to strip off and pose Calendar Girl style with two giant sticky buns. During the pandemic Helen hustled the Royal Mail to put a Change and Check stampmark on all the post. “We did ask if we could have some boobs put on a stamp of The Queen but they said probably not.”
She created a choir, recruited Joss Stone and then Marti Pellow to release singles which they performed at the Royal Variety Performance. The track Golden with Joss even went to number one on the download charts. “We knocked the Beatles off the charts which was pretty amazing.”
Helen's efforts came to the attention of the Royal Family and she was honoured with an MBE by Prince William earlier this year.
“That was such a special moment and amazing that I could share it with my family who have been there with me,” she says. “I’d love to get him on the boob bus!”
The campaign, she says, has helped give her a purpose when she was struggling with the bombshell news.
“When I found the lump, I saw a doctor pretty quickly and saw the consultant two weeks later, and in that time another four lumps had grown. I thought, no, cancer doesn't move that quick. But I could just tell in the air that it was not good news.
“My husband definitely sort of crumbled at that point and couldn't really hold it together, whereas I went the complete opposite, and was very much like rolling the sleeves up, and like, right, okay, what's next?
“There was a quite an intensive treatment plan put in place for me, so it felt good for me. I had something to focus on.
“I think when you're just watching somebody go through it, it's almost mentally harder.
“I just remember thinking, thank God I've got it and not somebody else in my family because I think I'd fall apart if it was somebody else, whereas I knew that I could be strong and get through it.”
How to tell the children
At the time Helen’s children were five, seven and nine so breaking the news was tough, and they struggled watching their mum lose her hair and being sick in bed with chemo.
“One thing I did learn was just to share what I was doing, how I was feeling, what my medication meant, all the appointments I was going to. They really seemed to feel better if they knew what was happening with me and where I was going. So they felt like they were part of it all.
“Each time I finished another round of chemo, We had this big chart on the wall and put stickers on it closer to me getting through it kind of thing. So it was cute.
“As hard as it is, I think just basic facts are quite a good way to deliver what is going on.”
© Getty ImagesHow to be a good friend
By the time we hit midlife, statistics show that many of us sadly will be at a stage where we hear a friend has been diagnosed with cancer. And while you may want to support them and be there for them, it can be tricky to navigate the best way to help.
Here are some tips to be a good friend to someone going through cancer:
Little acts of kindness
I remember someone delivering a lasagne and it was that sort of thing that helped massively.
Kind messages
Receiving messages to say ‘thinking of you - no need to reply’. Or ‘Can I come round and pick up some washing for you’. Actually offer to do something you can do for me, don’t leave it to me to decide because I find it stressful, which sounds ungrateful but when you are sick it’s hard to know
And what doesn’t help?
“People constantly asking how I was, because you can’t keep up with the amount of messages and I didn’t want to repeat it over and over.”
“People saying ‘I’m finding it really hard to come to terms with what is happening to you’. Er ok, are you expecting me to help you through this?”
“Don’t tilt your head if you bump into me in the street and look sorry for me.”
“Keep your cancer stories to yourself - the amount of people that will share a cancer story with you, of someone's nephew or neighbour and it's not always a great ending. There are some things we just don't need to know.”
It has been eight years since Helen finished treatment and apart from the odd triggering day, she is in a good place. “I think you are always looking over your shoulder,” she admits. “But I'm feeling really well. I'm on constant medication so there are side effects like early menopause, but I count myself very lucky to have caught it early.
“I just want everyone to be breast aware and if you are unsure about anything just go and see your GP.”
Change + Check campaign continues this month on Lorraine, weekdays from 9.30am on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player
