Little Lifts was founded by Oa Hackett in 2017. In 2014, when Oa was 28 years old, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Six weeks after her diagnosis she began chemotherapy treatment, and her life completely changed. During this difficult period, friends and family provided her with thoughtful gifts to help relieve some of the side effects she was experiencing. Little Lifts is on a mission to provide free, thoughtfully curated Little Lifts gift boxes to every patient in the UK receiving treatment for breast cancer.  The organisation which has been adopted by the Bacta Charitable Trust, will be introduced to the industry at EAG Expo. Oa Hackett provides some background on Little Lifts and looks ahead to meeting visitors and exhibitors at ExCeL London.

 

It sounds like a unique charity – is anyone else doing anything similar?

There is no other charity working directly with NHS hospitals, offering this type of support specific to breast cancer patients in the UK. It’s not only the content of our support, but its timing, and how it’s delivered – directly by clinicians at treatment planning or review meetings – that’s crucial. That’s what makes Little Lifts unique.

 

What is a Little Lifts Box?

We understand that everyone’s experience of breast cancer treatment is different. Our Boxes are carefully curated by people who have personal experiences of breast cancer treatment, and we always choose planet-friendly, ethically made items where we can. Each Box is hand packed with love by a volunteer in our community, often by a woman who has benefitted from our support. For example, we provide chilli oil in our Chemotherapy Box to add flavour food as treatment can cause loss of taste, a metal free deodorant in our Radiotherapy Box as recommended by clinicians and heated eye masks to aid rest and relaxation post-surgery.

 

You are based in Norwich – does that mean that your focus is Norfolk/Suffolk or are you a national charity?

In the UK, 55,000 women and 400 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. One in seven women in the UK will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. There are 61,000 women in the UK living with incurable (secondary) breast cancer, a recognised disability. We support people undergoing treatment for breast cancer by giving them a Little Lifts Box. In the East of England, our ten NHS hospital partnerships ensure that every eligible person is reached. Elsewhere in the UK, people can apply to our Little Kindness Fund to access our support, for free.

 

How did you make the link with the amusements/gaming industry?

Zoe Hill was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 aged 34. She received her Little Lifts Box during her chemotherapy treatment at Ipswich Hospital and ever since then has she been part of the Little Lifts family. Zoe is also the Operations Director and business owner of Paddy & Scott’s, a coffee company based in Suffolk. Her business experience coupled with experience of breast cancer saw her join our Trustee board at the end of 2022. It is Zoe who introduced us to Nick Harding and Bacta.

 

How will you be using EAG to introduce yourselves to the industry and how many of the Little Lifts team will be in London?

Little Lifts is a very small charity, we have eight members of staff and cannot do what we do without the support from our amazing army of volunteers - 56 of them!.  Over the three days of EAG various Little Lifts staff members and a small number of volunteers will be spreading the Little Lifts love, raising awareness of our work and importantly the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. In a first for ExCeL London attendees can also expect to see some giant inflatable boobs roaming around the show!

 

What do you want to achieve from being at EAG and will you be using the show to launch any industry initiatives for the rest of 2025?

Being at the EAG is an amazing opportunity for Little Lifts, it is the first time we have been able to promote our work in London. We will be using this as an opportunity to raise awareness of our work and explain how Bacta members can get further involved to spread kindness and raise funds in 2025.