North Derbyshire's breast cancer helpline founder Wendy Watson spurs new musical with stars Tony Christie and Bernie Clifton joining the recording of Check Your Boobs song

Wendy Watson set up a hereditary breast cancer helpline, advocated genetic testing and lobbied for changes in healthcare after she became the first woman in the UK to have a preventative double mastectomy. She was just 16 when she lost her mum to breast cancer, her grandmother having died from ovarian cancer six years previously.

Her pioneering story has inspired Karen Restiano and son Max Restiano to write the script and songs for Wendy’s World – The Musical. A £60,000 Crowdfunder appeal is underway to help raise funds to put their creation into the development stage in the autumn.

Wendy, who lives in Wingerworth, said: "The musical is going to reach so many more people, the aim is to get to the 97 percent of the population that don't know they carry a gene fault and that they are at risk."

Celebrities including Tony Christie, Bernie Clifton, John Parr and Shane Nolan (son of Coleen Nolan and Shane Richie) have contributed to a song titled Check Your Boobs which was recorded at Steelworks Studio in Great Longstone and will be released on May 20. Members of Sheffield Cancer Choir sing the song in a video which was shot at Arbor Low.

Darts legend John Lowe, who lives in Chesterfield, is also on board and has filmed a video in support of the musical. There are parallels in numbers between darts and hereditary breast cancer. Bullseye equates to the 50 percent of people who carry a BRCA gene fault that will develop breast cancer by the time they are 50 while 180 is the number of genes that are involved in breast cancer.

Scriptwriter Karen, 56, who lives in Dore was unaware of Wendy's pioneering operation when she herself had pre-emptive surgery to remove her breasts and ovaries 10 years ago. Karen's eldest daughter Rosaria, 36, has followed suit and youngest daughter Romina, 25, has just signed the papers for a preventative double mastectomy which she will have lengthy counselling and testing.

Karen's niece was 26 when she found out that she had breast cancer 15 years ago. Nine female members of the family including Karen and her two daughters were found to be carrying a BRCA gene fault. Her two sons are not carrying the gene mutation.

Karen said: "In my family, Wendy has saved so many lives....we'd have been bobbing along nice and happy then we'd have all gone down like flies had it not been for Wendy's work."

Her father is living with cancer in several forms, stemming from an initial diagnosis of prostate cancer. Karen said: “He is doing well, but it is terminal.” Her grandfather died from the disease long before genetic analysis was available.

Wendy and Karen got to know each other through Wendy’s daughter Becky Measures and Karen’s youngest son Max. Radio broadcaster Becky, who underwent preventative breast surgery in 2004, championed Max's music on Peak FM and in return he performed at charity events that she put on in aid of the helpline. Karen was unaware of what the events were raising money for when she drove her son to them.

The penny dropped when Becky invited Karen onto a show she presented for BBC Radio Sheffield to talk about a book that she had written which is set in Castleton. Becky asked Karen if she was Max's mum and they started following each other on social media. When Max was booked for a charity event at Chesterfield's Casa Hotel last year, his mum went online and discovered that it was to raise money for the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline.

Karen said: "I clicked on the video of when Wendy had won Tesco Mum of the Year in 2011 and I now realised all those years ago when I thought I'd heard something about this BRCA gene fault it would have filtered down through Wendy's campaigning. I was awestruck that she had achieved such a lot and she had saved lives. I was inspired by Wendy's story and I thought if I've been inspired then others will be - I thought it was a story worth telling.

"When you've got girls you tell them about women who have achieved things. It's always from dusty old history books and I thought this is a woman who's achieved great things now - we should probably celebrate it in a modern context, not just people who are caught up in hereditary health issues but young women in general."The script for the musical is full of humour and heart, ranging from Wendy's childhood growing up in a village outside Bakewell to her life up until the age of 50. Karen said: "She is such a bubbly, happy go lucky character and I didn't want to lose that element of her. I didn't want her to become an Erin Brockovich and make it heavy and political."

Wendy's World - The Musical will be produced by Louise Wildish, who directed Karen's play, A Guinea Too Much, at Mansfield Palace Theatre. James Jawardena, who is currently working on Broadway, will be musical director. A cast of professional actors will bring the story to life, although Wendy won’t be playing herself as she says that she is now too old.

Multi-instrumentalist Max Restaino, 27, who has performed and worked alongside Gary Barlow, Donny Osmond, Peter Andre, Steps and Peter Kay, has written 16 songs for the musical. One of his compositions - Make It Through - is a song which Wendy has recorded and which reduced her to tears when she heard it played back to her.

Wendy said: "The songs are sensational, the script has been faithfully written and I'm so grateful to Max and Karen and to all the effort everyone has put in. It has rejuvenated my love of singing."

Her last experiences of recording and performing in a musical theatre show were in Chesterfield more than 20 years ago. Wendy set up the theatre group Peak Performance after having her preventative surgery. She said: "I wanted to show that I'm a woman who's had her breasts removed and living life - not some crackers woman who's had her breasts chopped off and sits in a cupboard.

"I've managed to cheat death so many times that I'm grateful to be alive and if I can help other people to stay alive then that's what I shall do. I've done my best to help people stay alive and keep people happy and comfortable and to know that they've always got me.

"I've taken on the pharmaceutical industry and also the bureaucracy in the health service.

"I'm not Jewish but I quote the Talmud (religious text) which says: "To save one life is to save the world entire."

Wendy runs the helpline 18 hours a day and has taken just one day off when she had surgery on a brain tumour bigger than a cricket ball in 2018.

As she bowls towards her seventh decade, her zest for life and determination shows no sign of waning. Wendy said: "I've got to live until I'm 137 to do everything I want to do. That's why I'm having my 40th birthday - I've got to extend my life somehow!"

Karen Restaino added: "With Wendy there could be a part ten to the musical, she's never-ending!"

*To support the Crowdfunder for the development of Wendy's World - The Musical, go to: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/wendysworldthemusical.

*The next series of Wendy and Becky's podcast Mother and Daughter Breast of Friends, which ties in with Wendy's World - The Musical and the Crowdfunder, is sponsored by First Intuition Yorkshire and Humber, the premier college for aspiring accountants.