Mummy’s Star: Bringing Cancer and Maternity Leave Reform Into the National Conversation

The Challenge

At least two women every day are diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy or shortly after birth, according to Mummy’s Star and Macmillan Cancer Support. Yet in the UK, maternity leave cannot currently be paused or delayed during cancer treatment.

For many mothers, this means the time legally intended for recovery, bonding and early parenthood is instead spent in hospital appointments, chemotherapy, surgery and treatment.

Mummy’s Star is campaigning for a change in legislation that would allow mothers diagnosed with cancer to defer maternity leave while receiving active treatment.

With the charity due to take the campaign to Parliament within days, the challenge was to turn an urgent but underreported issue into a national conversation.

Strategic Approach

The campaign began when I came across a LinkedIn post from a mother holding her newborn baby. What should have been the happiest time of her life had been overtaken by a breast cancer diagnosis shortly after giving birth.

Her maternity leave had been spent in hospitals instead of at home with her baby. Her treatment was still ongoing, but her maternity leave had ended.

I contacted Mummy’s Star immediately and offered PR support.

The strategy was to frame the campaign around three clear pillars: the emotional human story, the legislative gap, and the scale of the issue.

This was not just one mother’s experience. It was a national policy issue affecting hundreds of women and families each year, with a clear and practical ask: allow maternity leave to be paused during cancer treatment.

Campaign Execution

With only 48 hours before the parliamentary moment, I reviewed the charity’s existing materials, gathered the strongest case studies and moved quickly to national and regional media outreach.

The campaign was pitched to major UK newsrooms including Sky News, ITV News, BBC and The Independent, alongside regional ITV stations connected to the mothers involved.

The media strategy focused on securing national visibility while also grounding the story locally, showing how the issue was affecting real mothers and families across the UK.

Within two days, the campaign secured approximately 10 interview opportunities across national and regional media.

Impact

A key result came through Sky News.

Following conversations with the Sky News political team, the story gained further political momentum. The political editor/reporter covering the issue was moved by the campaign and contacted parliamentary sources directly.

As a result, Sir Jeremy Hunt, former Chancellor and former Health Secretary, publicly backed the campaign. He told Sky News that changing the law was a “no-brainer” and warned ministers that “the longer you wait, the more people will suffer.”

Jeremy Hunt had not been part of the original campaign activity. His support came as a direct result of media engagement, helping to elevate the issue from a charity petition into a wider political conversation.