Amy Leslie Continues Breast Cancer Charity Founded by Her Mother and Grandmother
Amy Leslie, 22, is continuing the breast cancer charity her mother and grandmother founded after both died of the disease. Future Dreams began with £100 at the family kitchen table and now runs a support house used by people from across the UK.
Amy Leslie, 22, is continuing Future Dreams, the breast cancer charity her mother and grandmother founded in 2008 after both were diagnosed with the disease. Their work now includes a support house for people affected by breast cancer, with visitors traveling from across the UK.
Leslie, from north London, was six when her mother, Danielle, died in September 2010. Her grandmother Sylvie Henry had died of breast cancer in July 2009, aged 62.
The two women were professional dancers who ran their own dance school. Before they died, they started Future Dreams with £100 at the family kitchen table.
“I think they are watching extremely proudly as the charity is achieving what they wanted,” Leslie said. “I think they would just be so amazed that it's still going and it has built its own momentum.”
Danielle was 40 when she died. She left memory boxes for Leslie and her older brothers, Ben and Joe, with gifts and letters intended for milestones she might not live to see, including birthdays, graduations and driving tests.
“There was even a key when I turned 18, and it says, 'The key to adulthood',” Leslie said.
Both Danielle and Henry had gone into remission before their cancer returned and they launched the charity. Leslie said she remembers being confused when her mother lost her hair during treatment. Danielle wore “funny hats” and dressed up to help shield her children from its effects.
The family also held fundraising dance shows, including one at the Savoy hotel in London. “There were costumes and all these shows and pink ribbons everywhere,” Leslie said. “It was almost like the scariness of breast cancer became this fun, amazing charity.”
Leslie said she did not fully process her mother’s death until years later. Going away to university brought anger, and therapy helped, though grief still “comes up in the weirdest ways”.
“Sometimes I think, 'I was six, she knew a six-year-old me. What would she think of me today and who I am?'” she said.
Future Dreams House opened five years ago and offers support to people affected by breast cancer. Leslie said some visitors travel from across the UK to use the service. “The house is like a hug from my mum and my grandma,” she said.
Leslie, a newly qualified primary school teacher, has spoken to doctors about her own breast cancer risk because of her family history. She will start screening at 25; the National Health Service routinely offers breast screening to women from the age of 50.
She is currently traveling and said she would remain involved with the charity, carrying on its founders’ message that no one should go through breast cancer “alone or without hope”.
