A group of seven women have donated a vital piece of equipment to the Cellular Pathology department at Maidstone Hospital, after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro last year to raise funds via the charity Breast Cancer Kent.

The group, which included Consultant Breast and Oncoplastic Surgeon at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Deepika Akolekar, and Dame Tracey Crouch, raised a total of £153,000, around £90,000 of which was used to purchase a piece of machinery called a Faxitron.

The Faxitron machine is used to study specimens taken during surgery to remove cancerous tumours. Samples are taken from the specimens in order to inform ongoing treatment. The machine highlights abnormalities so the practitioner knows exactly where to take the sample from.

Before the Faxitron machine, the practitioner would often need to process multiple samples in order to get the information they needed. Now they can be much more targeted which saves time, resources and money, and means that the most appropriate treatment for a patient can be determined and started much faster.

The intrepid group, along with reporters from BBC South East Today and KMTV, came to see the Faxitron at Maidstone Hospital to learn more about how it works and how it’s benefiting people across Kent who have had a breast cancer diagnosis.

Find out more about how you can fundraise to support hospital services at MTW.