Cancer patients find all sorts of ways to help them through the tough days of treatment — Kathie Parkinson found comfort in baking cakes.

Kathie, from Harrow, got out her mixing bowl and created treats for her family in her kitchen at home in Harrow and even blogged about it.

‘Cancer Cakes’ on Kathie’s blog included ‘cherry tart day’ — the day she received a call-back after a routine mammogram.

Then there were lemon sugar scones to sweeten the day her consultant found a second suspicious lump, mug cakes with salted caramel sauce to mark the day of her operation and a chestnut mousse she made during radiotherapy treatment.

But that was all topped with the raspberry blue marble Sci Fi cake with edible metal glitter that almost sent her into orbit just before her op!

“I panicked about the metal in the glitter after we’d eaten a few slices,” she remembers. “It dawned on me that they were going to use strong magnets and X-ray machines in the operation to locate and check the lump.

“I called the hospital to get reassurance that this metal wouldn’t be sucked through my organs towards the magnet and cause internal bleeding.

“They reassured me that it would be fine — and must have been laughing their heads off after putting down the phone!”

The 64-year-old clinical psychologist is now cancer-free and well, now backing a Cancer Research UK campaign to help fund more breakthroughs in research.

Her recovery is thanks to faults discovered 30 years ago in BRCA genes that increase risk of cancers such as breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic, leading to ways to prevent, diagnose and treat them.

Kathie took part in a home-kit study trial that can detect the gene fault with a simple saliva sample.

“Genetics had never entered my head before this point,” the mother-of-four recalls. “I was undergoing so many tests that one more didn’t seem a problem.

“It was just a saliva test, which we posted off. It was stressful waiting for the results but was worth it.”

The results came back in two weeks showing Kathie didn’t carry the faulty BRCA gene.

But she still had to undergo a lumpectomy in 2021 followed by radiotherapy and now takes the Letrozole drug to help prevent breast cancer returning.

“Investing in research has given many families hope,” Kathie insists. “So many preventative measures and targeted drugs are now available because of this landmark discovery.”

The charity has been responsible for new drugs called PARP inhibitors to treat people with faulty BRCA-driven cancers. 

Cancer Research UK’s Lynn Daly said: “We are understanding DNA repair and helping to discover the BRCA genes to developing treatments, making huge leaps forward.”

Kathie found baking cakes during her treatment was cathartic to combine with a blog talking about her treatment, which took her mind off things.

She’s now back in her kitchen in Harrow keeping the oven going.

“I like making cakes that make people go ‘Aahh’ when they see or smell them,” Kathie tells you. “It helped make things a little less scary.”

Around seven out-of-10 women with faulty BRCA genes are known to go on to develop breast cancer by the age of 80.

But 30 years on, the discovery of the fault in the BRCA genes is now helping save many more lives.