In 1997, Caron Keating, television and radio news correspondent, was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the seven years she struggled with cancer, she came to feel that cancer was not a disease any of us can afford to ignore. Keating observed that cancer has touched most people in the UK, through the personal experience of being diagnosed with cancer, or by the experiences of friends, colleagues and family whose lives have been touched by cancer.  After her death in 2004, the Caron Keating Foundation was founded by Gloria Hunniford, Paul & Michael Keating and Russ Lindsay, in honor of Caron Keating. Caron Keating was 41.

According to the Caron Keating Foundation, over 750 people in the UK are told they have some form of cancer everyday, and if the current trend continues there will be more than five million more people diagnosed between now and 2020. The Caron Keating Foundation offers financial support to professional caregivers, complimentary healing practitioners and support groups dealing with cancer patients, as well as individuals and families who are affected by the disease. It will also financially help a number of cancer charities with their ongoing quest for prevention, early detection and cancer cure.