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Sharp rise in British Jews turning to Chai for breast cancer support
New figures released to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month reveal a 39% year-on-year rise in requests for help from the charity
New figures reveal a significant surge in demand for breast cancer support within the Jewish community, with Chai Cancer Care supporting a record number of people affected by a diagnosis.
Figures released to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October show that 318 people with breast cancer were supported by Chai in the year to August 2026, compared with 229 in 2022, representing a rise of 39 per cent.
The number has increased year after year, rising to 270 in 2023, 283 in 2024, 292 in 2025 and a record 318 this year.
General demand for breast cancer services has also reached a new high. Chai, the UK Jewish community’s leading cancer support organisation, provided 4,194 appointments for people with breast cancer in the year to August 2026, up 28 per cent from 3,274 in 2022.
From 2022 to 2026 Chai provided more than 19,000 breast cancer appointments. Women supported following a breast cancer diagnosis have ranged in age from just 31 to 101, highlighting the need for specialist support across generations.
Across its 11 UK locations, Chai offers 70 services – with specialist breast cancer support including its Breast Buddies programme, dedicated BRCA support group, genetic and one-to-one counselling, physiotherapy, scar tissue massage, manual lymphatic drainage and complementary therapies. Support also extends to partners, children and families.
Across the UK, around 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, with one in seven women developing the disease during their lifetime. While most cases occur in women over 50, around 5,000 women aged 45 or younger
are diagnosed each year.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene faults, which increase the risk of breast and other cancers, are significantly more common among people with Jewish ancestry, affecting around one in 40 Ashkenazi Jews and one in 140 Sephardi Jews – compared to around one in 250 people in the wider UK population.
Chai client Marissa Wright, 58, from Bushey Heath, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2025, despite having no family history of the disease and having attended routine mammograms. She underwent a mastectomy in February 2026, when cancer was also found in her lymph nodes.
The mother of two said: “Being diagnosed with breast cancer was the biggest shock of my life. There is something about walking into Chai that makes me feel that I belong. I’m not religious, but I think when you’re Jewish there is an affinity and a familiarity that you feel with other Jewish people.”
Israel-born Shyned Maritan, 45, a mother of two from Hertfordshire, was diagnosed with hormone positive breast cancer in 2024 after cancer was detected during annual screening she received as a BRCA1 carrier. She underwent a double mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was told she was cancer free following surgery, with clear lymph nodes.
Shyned received support from Chai for around two years, including one-to-one counselling, a breast cancer support group, parent support, scar tissue massage, reflexology, acupuncture, attended yoga classes and other complementary therapies.
She said: “I started using Chai very soon after my mastectomy and they immediately began offering me different forms of support. My counsellor helped me take it step by step and day by day. There is so much going on inside you when you are dealing with cancer and talking about it helped me process what was happening. In a way, it gave me back some of the control I felt I had lost.”
Zippora Galpert, Chai’s Clinical Lead, noted that behind the figures and case studies “are people of all ages and backgrounds facing the physical and emotional impact of a breast cancer diagnosis, alongside the families and loved ones affected with them”.
She added that Breast Cancer Awareness Month is “an important opportunity to ensure our community knows that Chai is here for them, at every stage of a cancer diagnosis and beyond. Our priority is that anyone who needs our support knows where to turn and can access the care that can make a meaningful impact on their lives.”
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an international health campaign held every October that aims to promote screening and reduce the risk of the disease, which affects 2.4 million women worldwide.
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