Former Lover Island star from Didcot Sharon Gaffka is calling for the next government to help save more lives from cancer after her mum faced the disease.

The then 25-year-old civil servant joined the hit dating show in 2021 for the seventh series lasting 18 days in the Love Island villa.

She worked as a contracted operations lead for the Department for Transport before leaving to join the ITV reality show.

READ MORE: What are Oxfordshire's previous Love Islanders doing now?

Since leaving the villa she has become an anti-spiking campaigner after sharing her horror story of being spiked during a daytime lunch with her friends.

As polling day fast approaches, she has now signed an open letter from Cancer Research UK urging party leaders to make the general election a turning point for people affected by the disease.  

She has described her mum as ‘one of the lucky ones’ to join the calls to highlight the need to tackle cancer waiting times, unequal access to diagnosis and treatment and an estimated £1bn funding gap for life-saving research.

The letter also urges party leaders to make cancer a priority in their manifestos. 

The charity says a long-term cancer strategy for England is needed to help transform survival.  

There are half a million cancer cases a year projected in the UK by 2040 – of which around an estimated 72,000 could be in the South East.

READ MORE: Couple sleep in car after 'nightmare' hotel with dead mouse in room

The charity’s spokesperson for Oxfordshire, Alison Birkett, said: “We've made huge progress in beating cancer over the last 50 years, but it remains the defining health issue of our time.

"So, with the countdown to the general election underway, we’re grateful to Sharon Gaffka for her support. She understands the devastating impact of a cancer diagnosis on a family all too well.

“Cancer cases are rising and, every year, around 22,700 people in the South East lose their lives to the disease.

"That’s why we hope people across Oxfordshire will seize this opportunity to help turn the tide by signing our letter to party leaders and urging them to make cancer a priority in their manifestos.   

“Our ambition for the future is simple: longer, better lives for people in the South East and across the UK.” 

The open letter can be signed at cruk.org/letter until the 5 June to join a groundswell of over 20,000 supporters, scientists and stars, including actors Stephen Graham and Daisy Edgar Jones, comedian John Bishop and TV presenter Alison Hammond, who have given it their backing. 

Cancer Research UK’s letter brings figures like these into focus stating, “Behind each statistic is a real person affected by cancer. Partners holding hands waiting for news. Friends missing at birthdays. Parents up late worrying.”