Força - Strength Against Cancer is a New Forest based charity that raises funds to support people living with cancer in Hampshire and Dorset, including the Nourish and Support programmes, as well as individual assistance. Força - Strength Against Cancer is a charity, run by volunteers based in the New Forest and Lymington area, whose main focus is to raise awareness and funds in order to support people affected by cancer and cancer services in Hampshire and Dorset. In 2011 a group of Lymington mums founded the unincorporated association ‘Força 14’ after one of their friends was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. ‘Força’ means strength in Portuguese and that is exactly what the group aspired to bring to their friend. What started as a group of 14 friends rallying round to help look after children and cook meals whilst the exhaustion of chemotherapy took its toll, soon grew to be much, much more. The team of volunteers has grown, along with the support given by the local community and the number of people that the charity is now able to assist. Individual Support
Força - Strength Against Cancer has provided individual financial support, for example, towards childcare (easing the burden of looking after young children whilst unable to work and undergoing cancer treatment), towards improving living conditions and towards recommended treatment not covered on the NHS. Importantly, Força has helped a number of families to create cherished memories before the death of a parent, providing financial support for special days out and towards memorable holidays. If you know someone who might benefit from individual Força assistance, please complete and send this online form. Nourish
In 2016, Força - Strength Against Cancer started their Nourish...by Força programme, which reflects the team's original objective of offering practical help to their dear friend. The charity funds the Oakhaven Kitchen to prepare and cook a range of healthy, nourishing meals, which are then frozen and offered to chemotherapy patients so that they don’t need to spend time and energy on cooking while they are undergoing what is often a gruelling treatment. Força has funded two freezers at Oakhaven and at Lymington New Forest Hospital to store the meals and also fund the running costs. Most recently the team have doubled the number of dinners provided when the chemotherapy unit moved from Oakhaven to Lymington Hospital in 2018. Support
In 2019 Força introduced a new project, Support... by Força that directly assists women who have undergone a mastectomy, offering special post-surgery support bras free of charge to anyone going through mastectomy surgery at Southampton Hospital. The support bras have been kindly donated to Força by Macom for the project. If you would like to be considered for a support bra, please contact the team on [email protected]. The Força team, all busy working mums who selflessly volunteer their time, recognise that there are many people living with cancer in our communities who need helpfulness and support - and for whom Força - Strength Against Cancer can be a helpful 'force.' If you can help or would like to find out more, please contact [email protected].
