Our History

Our first mission

Is our commitment to encourage women, men and children to consider their lifestyle choices and to realise their own potential for good health and well-being. It is the ethos the charity has been built on, seeing regular walking as the root to good health. When we began, scientists knew that lifestyle had an impact on our health, but they didn’t know to what extent. Research over the past few years is now showing that lifestyle and being active are the most important aspects of prevention, not just for breast, but all cancers. Whilst it is by no means a guarantee, the thought of actually preventing breast cancer in the first place, has to be something we all want to aim for.

Our second mission

Has been to help drive the awareness for the need of integrated care, offering vital emotional and physical support for those on their journey through cancer. This is now considered a valued and an important part of the cancer journey, allowing people to live well during treatment and beyond their cancer diagnosis.

Our third mission

Has always been aimed at supporting all our future health by investing funds into ground breaking research which has contributed to shaping the way breast cancer is diagnosed, all the way through to treatment.

Cancer statistics speak for themselves*

• 1 in 2 people will experience cancer in their lifetime
• 55 thousand women and approximately 400 men are diagnosed each year with breast cancer
• Around 40% of cancers could be avoided with lifestyle changes
• 27% of breast cancers could be avoided with changes to lifestyle
• 7%  just by being more active

*World Cancer Research Fund

How it all began…

Although it is almost 3 decades ago, the story of how Walk the Walk began continues to fascinate and attract interest. At a time when cancer was considered the ‘C’ word and certainly not talked about, Walk the Walk came along with the first challenge of its kind, the now iconic MoonWalk, and put ‘fun’ into something so serious. That in turn not only encouraged more awareness, more importantly it allowed people to talk about cancer openly. What started out with a few brave women has to date encouraged over half a million people (that we know of) to start Walking the Walk… read it here!

The charity was founded by Nina Barough when one morning she woke from a dream with what seemed like a ‘fun’ idea to Power Walk the New York City Marathon in a decorated bra to raise money for breast cancer. What makes the beginning of this story so magical is that Nina at that time had no experience of fundraising for a charity, had never taken part in a marathon… or wanted to, but most of all she knew nothing about breast cancer or anyone who had been affected.

Only months later, in November 1996 the dream became a reality, and after much training and fundraising, 13 courageous women took to the streets of New York in their bras. In truth, they were all signed up for a fun weekend in New York however, it resulted in the team raising over £25,000 which was then donated to Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research (now Breast Cancer Now) to contribute to them building the first dedicated centre for research into breast cancer.

Word soon got around and people started to call Nina asking if they could join her next walking challenge. Due to her work commitments, it was doubtful if that would happen, but then, as with most things at Walk the Walk, fate intervened and took Nina and her supporters to the beginning of what would be quite a journey!

Fate lends a hand

In January 1997, only 2 months after the New York City Marathon adventure, Nina not only discovered she had breast cancer herself, but that it was an aggressive tumour, which she had most probably had for about 3 years. As a result, her world was thrown upside down, as she had to give up her business and embark on a programme of treatment including a mastectomy followed by radiotherapy, with a 2 year course of Zoladex injections and Tamoxifen. As is often the case in difficult times, those around her felt very helpless, so it seemed that at the height of the Spice Girls and ‘Girl Power’, to encourage a team to Power Walk the London Marathon would be a really positive way of showing support.

The 1997 London Marathon was another huge success for the Walkers, who raised in excess of another £25,000. Only 3 days after the marathon, the first Walk the Walk auction was held to sell their celebrity created bras, which had been designed by Paul Smith, Mary Quant, Richard Branson and many more. Only days later Nina began her treatment.

And so the MoonWalk was born

In the spring of 1998, Walk the Walk entered its second team into the London Marathon. 25 Walkers claimed their places, however, there were 25 who were not so lucky. Not wanting to disappoint them or waste their hard earned fundraising or training, Nina decided to create a one-off marathon for these girls. The intrepid 25 grew to 65 and, on the eve of the London Marathon, they set off at midnight on Saturday with the intention of completing their marathon by 7.00am Sunday morning, passing on the ‘baton’ in Trafalgar Square to the girls who would be walking the official event. Nina and a girlfriend actually completed both The MoonWalk followed by the London Marathon, a total of 52.4 miles within 24 hours… The MoonWalk was born, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Nina had managed to turn a simple idea into a dynamic charity. Over the years, with the tremendous advancements in research, leading to better diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and now an understanding of what we can all do to support prevention, the charity has continued to evolve. Whilst maintaining the heart and ethos at the core, Nina’s passion for healthy eating and being active has inspired many others; in fact, joining a Walk the Walk challenge has often been described as life-changing. Many women and men who have never before, walked as a sport, taken on a challenge or considered walking as part of an active lifestyle, have become ardent walkers.

Walk the Walk

Over the past few years we have continued to invest what we could into areas that really needed our help, and for those living with cancer. Taking treatments to patients in a challenging time by supporting a mobile lymphoeodema treatment bus; much-needed online services at a time when it was not possible to have face-to-face sessions; helping to get much needed face to face counselling available again for those that need it – these are just some of the ways in which we have helped through this challenging time, as well as through our own projects.

Over this time, Walk the Walk has been greatly encouraged to see the public beginning to realise the multiple rewards and benefits of Walking. The impact that taking a few steps can have both mentally and physically on overall health and well-being is quite profound, let alone on those being treated for cancer. The MAD2 walking plan was created during these difficult times and continues to encourage and guide people in how to take those all-important first steps.

Meanwhile, our campaign that ‘Men Get Breast Cancer Too’, was a huge success in raising nationwide awareness. However, it also bought together a collaboration of support charities, who have now thankfully taken up the baton and recognised that whilst the incidence of breast cancer in men is far less than for women, the needs for men must be, and are acknowledged.