Flat Friends UK

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Flat Friends UK

We are a charity for women who are deciding, choosing or having to live without reconstructionafter mastectomy due to breast cancer or inherited risk.

We provide literature to healthcare teams, collaborate with research, and offer support to women.

04/06/2026

This week is volunteers' week and we are celebrating all our amazing volunteers. Our charity wouldn't exist and wouldn't be able to support all our existing and future members without you! Thank you!

28/04/2026

Following an incredible London Marathon debut from our first ever runner, Sarah Southerington, we’re feeling inspired 💥

Sarah secured her own place and chose to run for Flat Friends, raising vital funds for this community and setting the bar high for what’s possible.

Flat Friends exists to support women deciding, choosing or having to live flat without breast reconstruction after mastectomy, due to breast cancer or inherited risk.

Fundraising like this helps us reach more women, offer more support, and ensure no one has to face this journey alone.

Now we’re asking… who’s next? 😉

The ballot for the London Marathon 2027 is open until 4pm this Friday 1st May. With plans for an even bigger event, there’s never been a better time to take part.

Imagine what we could do with a team behind us 👀

If you’re thinking about it, go for it. And if you get a place, we’d love to have you running for Flat Friends. Our wonderful trustee and qualified run leader and PT would be happy to provide training support 💗

Here’s the link to enter the ballot: https://www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/ballot

25/04/2026

AND SHE HASN’T EVEN STARTED YET 💥

Our amazing runner and Flat Friend, Sarah Southerington, has already raised over £4,000 for Flat Friends ahead of tomorrow’s race day 👏

A huge, huge thank you, Sarah. This means:

More support for women deciding, choosing or having to live flat after mastectomy. More connection. More visibility. More women feeling less alone.

You’ve already made an incredible impact and the start line is still ahead.
Now it’s time to bring the noise.
 Let’s get behind her, cheer her on and carry her all the way to the finish line 🔥

17/04/2026

"I’m Carolyn, a trustee of Flat Friends, and I want to share my journey moving through mastectomy.

I found Flat Friends on the day I was told I’d need a mastectomy for an early but aggressive lobular breast cancer, a lump I discovered quite by accident after I’d sprained a pectoral muscle.

Finding Flat Friends, and particularly the Flatter Fashion blog, helped me normalise what I had imagined would be a really difficult decision. For me, it wasn’t. I was lucky, I knew what I wanted, and everyone around me, including my surgeon, was completely supportive. I know it isn’t like that for many women.

I’ve been surrounded by breast cancer my whole working life. In 2013, I moved from a 20-year NHS career managing breast screening services and a cancer network to being self-employed as a cancer exercise specialist. I’ve worked with hundreds of people with all sorts of cancer, helping them become stronger and more active, and I’m particularly proud of the online community of women weight training after breast cancer that I’ve built.

When I was diagnosed, I knew staying active would help me feel in control. Running, strength training, gardening, and gentle walks kept my body moving and my mind calm. Before surgery, I practised physio exercises and adapted movements to keep my muscles strong. After surgery, I focused on walking, stretching, and gradually rebuilding strength in my arms, shoulders, and trunk. Nordic walking poles helped me regain movement and support lymphatic drainage.

Strength training came back slowly - light weights, cautious progression, always guided by safety. Being active helped me feel strong, resilient, and confident in my new flat body. Living flat isn’t about losing femininity, it’s about finding freedom and pride in your body after mastectomy. My scars are proof of survival, and movement helped me reconnect with my strength and independence.

I’m thrilled to be a Flat Friends trustee, and I hope to use my experience around health and wellbeing after a cancer diagnosis to support the charity and its community."

14/04/2026

This is what Flat Friends is here for.

For the woman weighing up her options.
For the one who didn’t feel she had a choice.
For the one navigating life after mastectomy, finding her way in a changed body.

We are here for women deciding, choosing, or having to live flat without breast reconstruction after mastectomy, due to breast cancer or inherited risk.

For support. For connection. For the reassurance that you are not the only one.

Celebrating 10 years of community, visibility and change as a registered charity.
And a huge thank you to every woman, volunteer, regional coordinator and trustee, past and present, who has helped shape Flat Friends.

Here’s to the next 10! 💗

03/04/2026

We have an Easter treat for you all! 🐣

From today, right through to Easter Monday, there's FREE DELIVERY on all tees, tops, jumpers, hoodies and accessories in our shop.

Treat yourself or a loved one and help support Flat Friends all at the same time. 💗

SHOP NOW: https://flatfriends.teemill.com/

01/04/2026

"A year ago I lost a part of me, but I gained a strength I never asked for, a body I’m learning to love, and a story I’m happy to share.

My breast cancer journey really began when I was just 9 years old, when my mum was diagnosed. She sadly passed away within 8 months.

Because of her, I was able to start mammograms at 40, and in 2025, aged 41, my early breast cancer was detected. I feel incredibly grateful it was caught early, my outcome has been so different to my mum’s, and it’s meant I can be here for my own little girl who was just 5 when I was diagnosed.

I had to have a right sided mastectomy. Due to another health condition, there were concerns about undergoing a long reconstruction surgery, so it was decided I would stay flat. My health and recovery had to come first.

It’s been a whirlwind. While I’m physically healed, mentally it’s still a journey. Adjusting to how I see myself, learning to dress a body that feels and looks different, the ongoing physio and scar care, it can feel overwhelming at times, but I have no regrets. Being here for my gorgeous girl outweighs a pair of knockers any day!

Having this image taken feels like a step forward in my mental recovery. I’m proud of what I’ve been through, even on the days that still feel hard.

I chose to share this openly to show there is nothing unusual about having one, two, or no breasts and that it deserves to be normalised. So much so that I’ve been offering complimentary photo sessions for anyone who wants to feel empowered again and proud of what their body has achieved. ❤️

A huge thank you to the lovely and for putting me at ease to create this beautiful moment."

15/03/2026

On the 26th April I will be in London, lacing up my trainers, pinning on my number, and attempting 26.2 miles of pavement-pounding for Flat Friends UK - the only UK charity dedicated to supporting women who have had (or are having/considering) a mastectomy without reconstruction, following a breast cancer diagnosis, or as preventative treatment.

Following my initial diagnosis and first mastectomy (Jan 2021), I requested a symmetrising mastectomy which was refused. I tried to resign myself to the fact that I would be living lopsided, but I wasn’t happy. I felt dismissed, unheard, and that I didn’t have any agency over my own body. A cancer diagnosis is devastating enough, and I found it particularly isolating because my experience was during lockdown. I felt dejected and hopeless, then one evening I came across Flat Friends on Facebook (they were being featured on Breast Cancer Now who I followed). I had never heard of them before, and it was like a door had opened! No, I wasn’t being unreasonable wanting to be totally flat, yes, I was ‘normal’, and yes, I was entitled to symmetry. I cannot emphasise how much this validation positively impacted my mental health.

I immediately contacted Flat Friends and joined their private Facebook group. Here I gained confidence, through their community’s knowledge and support, to successfully appeal my MDT’s decision. It was in fact in that histology that my second primary breast cancer was found. My mammogram on that breast would not have been due for another 12 months, so, quite simply, Flat Friends may just have saved my life.

I hope it is clear just how important the charity is to me; an amazing community of inspiring women that gave me hope when I needed it most. To this end I want to say ‘Thank You!’ and help them continue their incredible work.

Every single donation, big or small, will not only benefit the charity, but also fuel my miles and lift my spirits during my first ever marathon, so please, donate if you can, share if you can’t, but cheer me on regardless - I’ll need it! 🩷🩷🩷

To sponsor Sarah: https://www.justgiving.com/page/sarah-southerington-3?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL

13/03/2026

Being diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma in my left breast in April 2025 was not on my bingo card for that year! I had 6 rounds of chemotherapy, surgery, and 15 rounds of radiotherapy.

I was a heavy-breasted lady (36JJ), so “the girls” had always been a big part of my identity, no pun intended!

My surgeon advised me to have DIEP flap surgery, but I was told I would have to wait around a year to 18 months for a reduction on my right breast, as it was classed as unnecessary surgery. I had a lot of soul-searching to do. After plenty of research into going flat and DIEP flap surgery, I decided that a bilateral mastectomy with flat closure was the route I wanted to take. I felt I couldn’t cope with the asymmetry of a single mastectomy, or the uneven result a DIEP flap would leave me with.

In October 2025 I underwent a bilateral mastectomy. I was expecting to be devastated at losing the girls, but to my surprise, I was fine. I found losing my hair to chemo far more distressing than losing my breasts. And ultimately, I am so grateful I made that decision, because after surgery they discovered two small tumours in my other breast that hadn’t shown on any scans. My decision was most definitely justified.

My new silhouette has taken some getting used to, and learning how to dress my new shape has been, and continues to be, a learning curve. I still need some revision surgery to address the ‘dog ears’ I’ve been left with, but overall I’m so happy I went flat. I don’t miss wearing a bra, that’s for sure, and I’m looking forward to wearing strappy tops this summer!

There is something truly empowering about going flat - embracing the scars and acknowledging the trauma my body has endured, and continues to endure. But I’m still here, still fighting, and living my new flat era.

Address

London

Website

https://flatfriends.org.uk/

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