MP’s ‘tough’ election fight while battling breast cancer
GREATER Manchester MP Barbara Keeley has revealed she campaigned for the General Election while recovering from treatment for breast cancer.
The Worsley and Eccles South MP said the diagnosis was confirmed in May last year, after she found a lump the month before.
She had surgery to remove the tumour and lymph nodes during Parliament’s recess in May, followed by radiotherapy treatment over three weeks in July.
Ms Keeley, the former deputy leader of the House of Commons and shadow minister for mental health and social care, posted details on Facebook after revealing her diagnosis to members of the Worsley and Eccles South Constituency Labour Party at a meeting on Thursday night.
She said in the Facebook statement: “I want to emphasise again and again the importance of self-checking, which is how I found the lump that proved to be breast cancer.
“I’m so glad it was caught in time and that I am now, hopefully, cancerfree.”
Ms Keeley, a Labour moderate, has occupied the seat since it was created in 2010.
She was first elected as MP for Worsley in May, 2005, and held the seat for the party at last year’s General Election, with a 3,219 majority. Ms Keeley thanked her family, friends, campaign workers and her surgeon and oncologist at Guy’s Hospital, in London, where she was treated.
And she admitted campaigning for a General Election in the winter months after her treatment was “very tough”.
In the Facebook post, Ms Keeley said: “Tonight in our discussion on the General Election result, I was able to talk to my Worsley and Eccles South Constituency Labour Party about how tough the campaign was for me, given that I was recovering from treatment for cancer.
“After I found a lump last April, I had a diagnosis of cancer confirmed on May 2.
“I was able to have surgery to remove the tumour and some lymph nodes in the May Recess.
“This was followed by three weeks of radiotherapy in July.
“I carried on working through the radiotherapy, but it does bring with it a lot of fatigue.
“A General Election campaign in the cold and dark in November and December was very tough, but I got great support from my agent, Emily McDermott, and my team Jennifer Gregory, Drew Carswell and Simon Dixon.
“Thanks are also due to my surgeon and oncologist and their teams at Guys Hospital, in London, for their great care, and to my wonderful husband, Colin Huggett, for all his support.”