A specialist £1.8m breast cancer unit is set to open after a five-and-a-half-year long campaign by a regional daily.

The Worcester News has been given exclusive access to the Worcestershire Breast Unit Haven after adopting the cause as its official charity in 2009.

The unit, based at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, will provide complementary therapies, free counselling to patients and their families, advice on lymphoedema management and nutritional and practical advice as well as clinical care.

The News celebrated its appeal’s success on its front page last Tuesday, pictured below.

Kevin Ward was editor of the News when the appeal as launched.

Now at the South Wales Argus, he has remained a patron of the appeal.

He told his former newspaper: “I said then that being part of the appeal’s launch was important for me personally.

“My grandmother died from breast cancer when I was ten years old and she would have benefitted hugely from being able to use something like the breast unit.

“I was very proud to be asked to be a patron of the campaign and to make sure the Worcester News adopted the appeal.

“The campaign’s original cry to action ‘Everybody Knows Somebody’ was poignantly accurate in my case and I’ve no doubt it helped to ensure huge support from across the area.”