Our Team
About Laura
Laura faced cancer twice before the age of 35 and experienced the lack of support that exists after treatment herself. So she founded the only national charity dedicated to supporting those recovering from cancer. She’s a secondary school English teacher and over the last ten years, has transferred her skills to the wonderful world of health. Since founding Mission Remission, she regularly speaks at conferences and supports health organisations to refocus on what’s actually important: serving people and improving their lives. She’s been a CCG lay member championing patient involvement; a heath charity trustee, leads health data projects from a patient perspective; provides strategy consultancy to trusts, CCGs, and national organisations; and has supported international projects in Africa. She waited fifteen months for her first cancer diagnosis after 9 GP appointments. She was repeatedly passed from one department to another and was even turned away from A&E. She’s now a passionate health campaigner, writing for The Guardian, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, along with health journals like the HSJ and organisations like the Kings Fund. She also runs Mission Remission’s campaigns calling for improved financial and health support, along with policy changes to prevent cancer delays.
About Hannah
Hannah joined Mission Remission in May 2023. She came from a background in charity management and has extensive experience delivering community wellbeing programmes. She loves singing, gardening, camping and chicken keeping! Hannah was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2019 which was treated with a radical hysterectomy.
About Jane
Jane is our Trustee Chair, a GP and a breast cancer survivor. Since her diagnosis, she’s refocused her attentions and now says yes to every opportunity that comes her way! She has three young daughters and loves running.
About Andrew
Andrew, affectionately known as Morse to most, works for Merrill Lynch and specialises in esoteric global trade transactions. Like his namesake, he’s a professional problem solver and fills his spare time cycling, watching interminably long documentaries, and is a keen plant collector.
About Sarifa
I am a disabled activist and trustee, and I run two groups in Newham on a voluntary basis – one is the Newham Disability Rep Forum, and the other is the Newham Parents for Inclusion group. I am also the trustee of a new residents charity called the United Forum, One Newham, the Alliance of Inclusive Education, and Mission Remission – a cancer charity. Also, I work as the director for Together 2012, an arts and crafts organisation that does a lot of work for Newham residents. As a fundraiser, I’ve raised a lot money for Macmillan, Muslim Hands and Alkhair Foundation. Outside of work, I am the mother of four adult children, three who live with hidden disabilities and have 6 six grandchildren. l was diagnosed with cancer late, after a year, and had a lumpectomy and 6 weeks radiotherapy – throughout this I was still caring for my loved ones.I also write poetry which has been published by Asthma UK, Together 2012 and Carers UK.
About Chelle
Chelle, is our resident personal trainer. She joined the Mission Remission team in September 2023 to manage our fitness project and is now involved in fundraising too. She has been a personal trainer since 2014 with her own business called Adrenalize. Chelle was diagnosed with primary oestrogen-positive breast cancer on NYE 2021. Treatment involved surgery and radiotherapy.
About Caragh
Caragh is a brand, communications and strategy specialist with over 15 years’ experience working with charities, not-for-profits and purpose-led organisations. Her work focuses on helping organisations communicate clearly and ethically, particularly where lived experience, systems change and social justice intersect. She has worked with organisations including Refugee Council, Amnesty International UK, Barnardo’s, Arsenal FC and the PFA, delivering brand strategy, campaigns and communications grounded in real human experience. Caragh has was diagnosed with breast cancer at 32 years old, with an oligometastatic breast cancer (OMBC) at 35 years old. Having gone through cancer treatment while self-employed, Caragh brings first-hand insight into the financial, emotional and identity challenges faced by people living through and beyond diagnosis. At Mission Remission, Caragh works across strategy, communications and fundraising, helping ensure cancer survivorship is recognised, supported and properly understood.
About Alison
Alison was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in November 2020 and on NYE following an MRI scan, she was told it was bilateral breast cancer. She had surgery, chemo and radiotherapy. She then developed bilateral (she doesn’t like doing things singularly) pulmonary embolism. Following treatment and Recovery, she felt that there was no support for Cancer Survivors. She found Mission Remission on Facebook and quickly realised that this was just what she had been looking for. Following a request for volunteers, she applied and has been supporting Hannah with the wonderful Recovery Cafe since then, which she really enjoys. Before Cancer Alison managed a charity that supported families with young children for over 25 years. Her other interests are looking after her beautiful grandchildren when needed, walking, batik, socialising with friends and trying to herd her cats!
About Kirstie
Kirstie is an organisational psychologist and executive coach focused on helping individuals manage through periods of transition and maintain well-being in the workplace. Her specialism is helping navigate the transition back to the workplace after a period of absence: adjusting to changes of identity, reducing feelings of overwhelmed, managing expectations of others as well as preserving well-being. Outside of work Kirstie is a keen rower, gardener, cook and mum of two and is slowly completing the South West Coast Path.
About Charlotte
Charlotte is our Community Manager and is currently in remission from stage 4 colon cancer which she was initially diagnosed with in 2020 at 26 years old, during Covid and while living in Australia on a work visa, and had surgery and received chemotherapy in Melbourne to treat. Charlotte returned to the UK in 2021 to recover physically and mentally but later had a recurrence on her lung in 2023 which was successfully removed in Bristol. Since Charlotte’s diagnosis she has lived a more intentional life – saying yes to things that truly make her happy! Outside of spending time with loved ones, taking care of her rescue greyhound, travelling to new places and keeping fit in the gym, Charlotte is a passionate advocator for life after cancer and raising awareness of bowel cancer in young people and has come from a background in Fundraising Engagement within the cancer charity space.
About Lizzie
Lizzie is a journalist and communications specialist with more than 15 years of experience. She’s passionate about improving healthcare systems in the UK, as well as supporting better long-term outcomes for cancer patients.
About Chris
Chris was diagnosed with ovarian cancer during lockdown in 2020. Initially told her cancer was stage 4, thankfully after treatment it was revealed as Stage 1. However the shock of that initial diagnosis remained and remission was not the relief from worry that she had hoped for. Searching for help online she found Mission Remission and realising so many others were feeling as she did was the start of her journey to recovery from the mental trauma of her initial diagnosis. She feels passionately that the ‘remission journey’ is a journey that lacks support in so many ways. She brings 6 years of experience as a trustee of a charity supporting visually impaired and special needs adults and children and hopes to help Mission Remission to continue to grow its outreach activity – particularly in raising awareness that the recovery from cancer does not end with the proverbial ‘ringing the bell’.
About Gavin
Gavin is a technologist, entrepreneur and commercial leader with a wealth of experience in software development and systems engineering. He’s co-founded, built and sold a successful eCommerce platform business and is busy doing the same with his data analytics company, Datitude. His personal cancer journey started four years ago when he went through the life change that unexpected diagnosis, chemo and immunotherapy brings. He’s still on the rollercoaster of regular scans, and still figuring out how to live your best life with cancer. He’s a true believer in exercise, nutrition and all-round focus on mental and physical wellness playing key roles, both in supporting the critical medical interventions and supporting quality of life generally. His latest thing is crossfit, which he says he’s terrible at but enjoying getting a bit better at each week.
About Ryan
Ryan is a full-stack developer, primarily working on Java backends, with over 15 years of commercial development experience.
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