Donation backs life-changing recovery care

A charitable organisation is helping expand specialist healthcare training to support women recovering from breast cancer surgery.

Northumberland Freemasons have donated £1000 to the North East Nipple Project, enabling advanced training that will enhance care for breast cancer survivors across the region. 

The project, run by Amanda Patterson and Megan Jones, provides free areola tattooing for women following breast surgery, offering an important final stage of reconstruction that helps restore confidence and wellbeing.

Amanda and Megan say the funding has been used to support specialist training in advanced areola tattooing and skin camouflage techniques, allowing the practitioners to better disguise scarring and work across a wider range of skin tones. 

They add that the investment will strengthen the quality and accessibility of care at a time when NHS provision can be limited by long waiting lists.

Amanda, who works from her studio in Wallsend, said: “Areola tattooing is often the last piece of the jigsaw after breast cancer treatment. 

“Unfortunately, many women can’t afford to access it privately. 

“We fundraise so we can step in and offer a number of these treatments free every month to those who need them most.”

Megan, who has a clinic in Sherburn Hill, in County Durham, added: “We call areola tattooing the gift of confidence. 

“It allows women to feel like themselves again after a long and difficult journey. 

“It really is the final step towards emotional and physical recovery.

“The funding has helped us grow as artists.

“But more importantly, it means the women we support receive the very best treatment we can offer.”

The donation was made through the Richard Henry Holmes Masonic Benevolent Fund, which supports community and charitable initiatives across Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside, contributing around £160,000 each year to projects that make a lasting local impact.

Norman West, representing Northumberland Freemasons, added: “This was a very unique funding application. 

“After everything these women have been through, we felt it was important to support a project that helps restore confidence and allows them to move forward feeling better about themselves.”

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