25/11/2025
We at Healthwatch Oldham want to take a moment to acknowledge that our colleague, ally and friend, Joanne Taylor sadly passed away on the 3rd of November.
Jo worked tirelessly for many years to advocate for change for people with Metastatic Breast Cancer, pushing for improvements to care, greater awareness and improved treatment options. She did this whilst also promoting the importance of health, physical activity and wellbeing in several ways, such as through After Breast Cancer Diagnosis Support Network, ABCD retreats, and Nordic walking groups. Jo also founded METUPUK, the only patient advocacy service for people with metastatic breast cancer in the UK.
Jo was a busy wife and mother yet always found time to support, challenge and educate anyone who wanted to learn about Metastatic Breast Cancer, and this includes our Healthwatch team. Jo supported us closely with the following projects:
NHS 10-year plan focus groups
NCA Digital inclusion focus groups and report
COVID report – providing a case study of a receiving difficult diagnosis alone
Secondary Cancer patient experience research and report
Jo was guest speaker at several of our forums where she spoke openly and honestly about living with Metastatic breast cancer and how to live well through this.
She was the true meaning of a critical friend of the system. Whilst Jo vulnerably shared her insight of Metastatic Breast Cancer, she also dedicated her time to giving others a voice and ensuring as many people as possible knew what they needed to know to get the best care possible.
Jo’s relentless drive for change and better care has helped to provide valuable insight, including:
• Helped to create change across GM with regards to how Secondary Cancer patient care can and should be better.
• Created infographics for red flags for Primary Breast Cancer patients for Metastatic cancer so that patients are better informed https://www.abcdiagnosis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ABCD-Ductal-Breast-Cancer-v9-20200224.pdf /https://www.abcdiagnosis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ABCD-Lobular-Breast-Cancer-v8-20191121.pdf)
We are not alone in saying the impact Jo has had has been immeasurable. Jo was a force of nature who we learnt so much from, and she will be so missed by so many. We send our deepest sympathy and condolences to Jo’s husband Jeff and children Regan and Faron at this very sad time.
Here are links to METUP UK (which Jo founded) and After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: metupuk.org.uk - https://metupuk.org.uk/ / https://www.abcdiagnosis.co.uk/
