Coppafeel! sent thousands of reminders for breast self-examinations via text and arranged for a group of women, “the Boobettes”, to visit schools and talk about their experience with breast cancer at a young age. The charity aired what was believed to be the first nipple in a daytime television advertisement, encouraging people to check their breasts for signs of anything unusual.
Kris Hallenga wrote a column for The Sun, and in 2014 BBC Three screened a documentary about her story, Kris: Dying to Live. In it she said: “I feel like I’m a voice for other girls going through [cancer]. Every day that I enjoy, that I am grateful for, is another level of acceptance for me. We are all going to die. I am just aware that it might happen sooner than I possibly had planned.”
In 2017 she stood down as CEO of Coppafeel! to spend more time with Marien and to write a memoir, and in 2021 Glittering a Turd became a bestseller.
Last year she held a living funeral in Cornwall, where she lived, at Truro Cathedral, wearing a black jacket bearing the letters YODO – “You Only Die Once”. Dawn French revived her Vicar of Dibley character to deliver a eulogy after pretending to have turned up at the wrong funeral.
Kris Hallenga’s mother and sisters survive her.
Kris Hallenga, born November 11 1985, died May 6 2024