Rebekah Gibbs To Open New Breasthealth Uk Clinic

At 10:30 am on June 3 2009, local actress Rebekah Gibbs will officially open the new BreastHealth UK clinic at the Spire Tunbridge Wells hospital.

In late 2007, just eighteen-months ago, everything looked perfect for 34-year-old former-Casualty-actress Rebekah Gibbs, who was seven months pregnant with her first child and looking forward to motherhood and the joys of family life. But on Christmas Eve she found a lump in her breast, and her world turned upside down.

In February 2008, just a couple of weeks after her daughter Gigi was born, Rebekah’s GP referred her to a specialist, but there was a wait before she could be seen at the NHS hospital as malignancy was not initially suspected. “The waiting was agony, and during that time a friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I was getting more and more panicky,” she said.

“My friend told me to call her surgeon – Mr Williams – directly. I did, and he was able to see me within an hour of calling him. He identified straight away that the lump was suspicious, and I had an operation to remove it two weeks later.”

On June 3 2009, Rebekah will open the new BreastHealth UK clinic based at the Spire Tunbridge Wells Hospital, where Mr Tim Williams has been the breast surgeon since 1992. BreastHealth UK offers a comprehensive range of screening and diagnostic techniques, including state-of-the-art technologies not yet available on the NHS.

“Breast cancer in younger women is rare, but I would always recommend that all women get anything worrying – lumps especially – checked out by their GP,” says Mr Williams. ”Early diagnosis and treatment gives the best chance of a positive outcome, and conversely quick reassurance may be possible.

“However, waiting can be a traumatic experience, so the BreastHealth UK service offers women the opportunity to access directly the facilities of a private clinic and obtain quality care fast.”

BreastHealth UK can often offer younger women a check-up quickly, even when no symptoms are present. The service is available directly to women – especially if they have a family history that concerns them – though a referral by the patient’s GP is welcomed and he or she will be kept informed.

As well as the OneStop Clinic for women who have a specific concern, BreastHealth UK offers a personalised risk assessment based on the latest genetic understanding coupled with details of lifestyle, medical and family history. Individually tailored screening programmes can also be arranged in consultation with medical staff.

Now, just over a year later, Rebekah is once again looking forward to her future and to years of motherhood. She has written a book, Because of You, detailing her fight to survive and see her little girl grow up.

For more information please visit www.breasthealthuk.com