'It is not about my cancer': Remembering Emma Adams
Almost a year ago, Emma Adams shared with us a vision for an app that did not yet exist. In the months that followed, she and co-founder Mandeep Birdy built a movement that broke a world record and gave hundreds of people a place to belong.
She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023. Three years later, on Wednesday, 29 April 2026, Emma Adams died — but not before co-founding Hope to Connect, helping break a Guinness World Record at Trinity Park, and raising thousands of pounds for cancer charities. The tributes that have followed reflect the scale of what she gave, and to how many.
This is not a feature about how Hope to Connect began. We told that story in March, when Emma was still here to tell it herself. This is a piece about what she left behind.
Oliver Rouane-Williams
The thing that kept her going
Speaking to Ipswich.co.uk earlier this year, Emma was asked what building Hope to Connect had given her.
"It's given me purpose," she said. "Even though it's all about cancer, it's not about my cancer — it's about helping other people. And I feel like that's rewarded me."
That sentence — that it was not about her cancer — captures something essential about how Emma chose to spend her final year. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023. By the time we met her, she was on what she described as the last line of treatment available to her. She did not soften it. She called it "Russian roulette". And yet, when she spoke about Hope to Connect, the focus was almost never on what she stood to lose, but on what others could gain.
It was on the 3am phone calls she wanted other people to be able to make. On the men who would not attend support groups.
"I would like to talk to somebody right now who's got triple negative breast cancer in Ipswich, perhaps with brain metastases," she told us. "I don't know anyone who has that."
That was the gap Hope to Connect was built to close. That was the work that gave her purpose.
Two goals, both met
When we last spoke with Emma, she set out the goals she had for the months ahead.
"I don't have massive goals other than the world record event and Issy's birthday and the party," she said. "And then we'll deal with whatever comes."
She achieved both of them.
At Trinity Park on Saturday, 11 April, 891 people signed an awareness ribbon in eight hours — a UK first, and the new Guinness World Record. The crowd had travelled from across the country, including Birmingham, Northampton, London, Brighton, and from Ireland. The event raised more than £2,500 for five cancer charities: the Harley James Reynolds Fund, Cancer Support Suffolk, Aoibheann's Pink Tie, Manchester Foundation Trust Charity, and The Swallows Head and Neck Cancer Support Group.
Joanne Brent, the Guinness World Records adjudicator, said: "It was incredibly powerful to verify 891 individual names, each representing a person and their own story."
A second attempt that day, for the largest human awareness ribbon, fell short of the numbers required. The crowd stood in formation anyway. "It was incredibly powerful to witness that moment," Brent said, "as it spoke volumes about the true purpose of the event."
Eight days later, on Saturday, 19 April, Emma's daughter Issy turned 18. Emma had spoken about that day to us as a non-negotiable. "Her whole last few years have been all about cancer," she had said. "She needs that." She made it to the birthday.
Ten days after that, she passed away surrounded by those who loved her.
A co-founder's tribute
Emma's friend, Mandeep Birdy, who co-founded Hope to Connect with Emma in March 2025, paid tribute in a statement.
"People swan in and out of our lives, but when one sticks, when they leave a lasting impression on your life, it's so special," she said.
"It has been such an honour to walk side by side with Emma this past year on a shared purpose. Even when she became too poorly to be as involved as she wanted to be during the final weeks of her life, it was still such a joy to see that sparkle in her eyes during our catch-ups and the pride she felt in what we were creating together."
"As anyone who has supported or lost someone to cancer will understand, it became heartbreaking to watch Em begin to slip away. There are no words for it. Em and I always knew this day would come, but nothing can prepare you for losing someone you love."
"It has been a privilege to bring Hope to Connect to life with Em and to walk these first footsteps beside her. I will miss Em in every moment while continuing Hope to Connect. But building the app so it becomes the resource we both dreamed it could be, will be a great honour."
A legacy carried forward
Hope to Connect does not yet exist as an app. The wireframe and design phase are complete, but the build is not yet fully funded. Mandeep is now pursuing investment and exploring multiple avenues to secure the capital required, and has said she intends to see it through. Emma's daughter Issy will play a role in carrying her mother's legacy forward.
What already exists, however, is the community that gathered at Trinity Park, the £2,500 raised for cancer charities, the world record verified in eight hours, and the readers — locally and beyond — who first heard of Hope to Connect through Emma's own words.
Those who knew her have described her resilience, her tenacity, her warmth, her humour, her honesty, and her extraordinary spirit. She offered comfort and hope, in the words of those who paid tribute, with remarkable grace and authenticity — even throughout her own cancer journey.
The bottom line
When she last spoke to us, Emma already knew what she wanted her legacy to be. Not a user metric. Not a pitch deck. A daughter who had a proper 18th birthday, and a community of people who no longer have to feel alone at three in the morning.
She secured the first. The second is the work that Mandeep will continue.
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