Cancer survivor's charity walk for mammogram machine

A teacher who was diagnosed with breast cancer twice is joining a fundraising walk to thank the hospital staff who cared for her.

Jo Argyle is taking part in Walk for Wards at Wilton house on 5 July. The event will see people walk between 1.8 miles (3km) and 9 miles (15km) for Salisbury Hospital's Stars Appeal charity to raise money for a mammogram machine.

Argyle, who is head of maths at South Wilts Grammar School, was first diagnosed in 2016, when she was 41.

"The consultant told me they were treating it as breast cancer," she said. "I just cried, I said 'I don't want this'. It was very hard telling my children, who were 10 at the time. It was a big shock."

Scans found five tumours and Argyle underwent a mastectomy to remove her breast and had six rounds of chemotherapy, finishing her treatment in August 2016.

But in April last year, Jo found another lump where her breast had been removed.

This time she was cared for in the Stars Appeal Breast Unit, which opened in 2017.

It is the first dedicated unit for breast patients at Salisbury Hospital.

"They got me in very quickly and I had scans and two biopsies there and then. I started to cry, I knew then what it was, that the cancer was back," Argyle said.

"It was so traumatic the first time, to have it happen again was devastating."

In June of 2025, Argyle underwent surgery to remove the cancer and radiotherapy treatment.

She has finished her treatment but continues to have regular checks and annual mammograms at the breast unit.

Participants in the fundraiser can walk for their chosen ward or department.

Walkers raising money for the Breast Unit will help fund a new £300,000 mammogram machine.

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