A TRAINED chef is turning up the heat on cancer this October as she prepares to serve up a fundraising feast in memory of her best friend who she lost to the disease.

Jo Jackson, from Strensall, who trained as a chef and has worked for Compass for 26 years, is now a health and safety manager for the foodservice giant and ensures catering services across the company are working safely and serving safe food.

The 51-year-old is using her expertise to cook up some cash with a special Sunday Brunch for Stand Up To Cancer and hopes people across the region will follow her lead.

She is urging foodies and fundraisers alike to create a restaurant-style experience at home by hosting a brunch bonanza for their household – with family or housemates donating the bill to life-saving research.

Stand Up To Cancer is a joint fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 which aims to get new cancer tests and treatments to people who need them the most.

Jo, mum to Samantha who saw her wedding postponed this June due to lockdown, is stepping up to the stove because she knows first-hand how important new discoveries and breakthroughs are to help more people survive.

Jo, who is Corporate Charity Champion for Compass, has been raising money for Cancer Research UK for more than 18 years after her best friend Larna died in 2002 of breast cancer aged just 34. Her colleagues have contributed in excess of £2.5 million for vital research since their corporate partnership with the charity began in 2009.

Jo, who is also the chair of Relay For Life York which has raised over £150,000 since 2018, said: “Larna was so young when she was diagnosed. Despite it being less than 20 years ago, I believe if she got the same diagnosis today she would have survived due to research and would be here today.

“It is such a cruel disease and just 18 months before her own death Larna lost her mum Jenny to lung cancer, again another diagnosis that could have been tackled with new treatment had it been today. That’s why I do all I can to support research and fundraise to find new breakthroughs to help people survive.”

In Yorkshire, around 31,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year. That’s why Jo is calling on people across the region to sign up for a free fundraising kit now with everything they need to turn their home into an exclusive brunch spot.

Get a free fundraising kit at su2c.org.uk/brunch. A Sunday Brunch mug is also available from Stand Up To Cancer’s online shop.