Madison’s gran vows to raise awareness of childhood cancer

8:30pm Wednesday 28th December 2011 in News

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MADISON Allan’s grandmother has vowed to start an awareness campaign about childhood cancer Neuroblastoma.

Seven-year-old Madison, of Lord’s Crescent, lower Darwen, died on Boxing Day, having fought the aggressive tumour since being a baby.

Alison Foster, also of Lord’s Crescent, is keen for parents to know the early symptoms before it is too late.

she “It’s not just Maddi who has suffered from this, there are plenty more, and it needs highlighting.

“Sir Ian Botham did a lot to raise awareness of Leukaemia, and we need someone high profile to do the same for Neuroblastoma. I’m sure it can be done. “

she has previously said: “Neuroblastoma still has the same terrible survival statistics now that it had 20 years ago. we still use the same drugs to treat it that we did 45 years ago. This would be unacceptable in any adult disease.

“There are better drugs and therapies available in other countries, but because there is so much red tape in UK politics, we can’t get the drugs made legal for use in children.

“All that is needed is a nationwide campaign which promotes the signs and symptoms of Neuroblasoma to aid early detection, and one that aims to make the word commonplace in every day usage.

“Every year in the UK 100 more children have to fight this disease and most of them don’t make it because lack of awareness meant they were diagnosed too late. Lack of funding and awareness also means many of these children will have to seek treatment abroad.”

Neuroblastoma is cancer that develops from nerve tissue, occurring in infants and children.

It can occur in many areas of the body, but most begin in the abdomen in the adrenal gland or next to the spinal cord, or in the chest.

The disorder occurs in approximately 1 out of 100,000 children and is slightly more common in boys.

In most patients, the Neuroblastoma has already spread when it is first diagnosed.

New campaign to highlight the symptoms of killer disease

11:40am Friday 8th April 2011

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Nurse specialists in Bradford are mounting an awareness campaign of one of the most deadly forms of cancer.

About 150 patients are treated each year in Bradford for oesophageal and stomach cancer. many present late because of a lack of awareness of the symptoms.

Survival rates for the cancers are low with only one in ten patients with oesophageal cancer surviving ten years after diagnosis and five-year survival rates for stomach cancer are only 15 per cent.

To increase awareness of symptoms and to encourage patients to seek help sooner, upper GI cancer nurse specialists Amanda Procter and Tracey Wilcock and specialist dietician Anna Fletcher, of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will be manning an information stall at the Kirkgate shopping centre in Bradford next Friday from 9am to noon.

“We hear a lot about more common cancers and we want to raise the profile of oesophageal and stomach cancer,” said Amanda.

“It is not as common as other cancers but it is increasing, particularly in men over 50. It can be due to lifestyle, such as smoking, drinking and diet and in those with a history of reflux.

“The symptoms we are looking out for are feeling full very quickly, ongoing reflux that does not get better, acid indigestion that does not get better, food getting stuck and weight loss.

“People with any of these symptoms should see their GP and they will be referred for an endoscopy.

“The problem that we often find is that patients present quite late. Tumours can grow for some time before they cause problems and sometimes it can be too advanced for curative treatment. Then we would manage symptoms. our main message is don’t ignore any problems because the earlier we catch it there is a lot better chance of a cure.”

As well as information leaflets the team will be looking at body anatomy to raise body awareness and how a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of cancer.

• Mick Dawkins has his daughter Karen Owen to thank for saving his life.

Karen, a nurse at Bradford Royal Infirmary, pestered her dad to go to his GP, when he complained of symptoms typically linked to cancer in May 2009.

mr Dawkins, 64, of Fairweather Green, who has never smoked and is a social drinker, said: “Food was sticking in my throat and before that I did have a lot of acid indigestion.’’ His GP referred him to BRI for an endoscopy. the examination revealed a tumour – cancer of the oesophagus, also known as the gullet or food pipe. “I was shocked – I had never heard of this sort of cancer before,” he said.

in August 2009 he began a course of chemotherapy to shrink the tumour and in November he underwent a nine-hour operation.

mr Dawkins attends a support group once a month at Bradford Cancer Support called SOS – Stomach and Oesophagus Support – where he meets other patients. he said: “It is good to find out how other people are getting on.

“If anyone has any of the symptoms they should get it checked out by a doctor. I wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t.”

LONDON (AFP) – A £750 million cancer strategy for Britain designed to drive up survival rates could save an extra 5,000 lives a year, ministers said Wednesday.

New screening programmes will be introduced under the Department of Health (DoH) plans, which will see £450 million invested in increasing early diagnosis.

The money will be used to fund access to diagnostic tests from local GPs with over two million extra tests to be made available via primary care services over the next four years.

A £10 million awareness campaign will aim to inform people of the symptoms of cancer and promote screening, the DoH said.

The strategy also promises to increase access to radiotherapy treatment as well as focusing on prevention and healthy lifestyles.

?Our ambition is simple, to deliver survival rates among the best in Europe and this strategy outlines how we will make our first steps towards this," said Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, unveiling the plans.

"Our commitment is to save 5,000 extra lives a year from 2014/15 and that is what we will be measuring our success against.?

Around 298,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK, according to the NHS. Cancer claims more than 150,000 lives a year in Britain, with one in four deaths caused by the disease.

Professor Mike Richards, the national clinical director for cancer, said survival rates in the UK "lag behind" other countries because too many people are diagnosed late.

"this is why our strategy focuses on earlier diagnosis which we will achieve through raising the public?s awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer and also providing better access to diagnostic tests," he said.

"But improving outcomes for people with cancer isn't just about improving survival rates. it is also about improving patients' experience of care and the quality of life for cancer survivors and our strategy also sets out how that will be tackled."

Ciarán Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, welcomed the strategy?s "commitment to improving early diagnosis and aftercare services".

"the combination of a cancer survivor survey, care plans for all cancer patients and investment in after care services should lead to cancer patients feeling less abandoned after treatment," she said.

But she said the strategy failed to outline how GPs will be supported in commissioning cancer services under NHS reforms.

"the commissioning support currently available through Cancer Networks has only had its funding secured for one more year," she added. "there is no indication of what support will be available after this point. "

The Government is launching a new drive to save the lives of 5,000 more cancer sufferers a year. Skip related content

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is set to commit around ?800 million to an updated cancer strategy for England.

The plan is expected to focus on early diagnosis to improving survival rates, which lag behind many other European countries.

It will include a specific commitment to save an additional 5,000 lives a year in England by 2014-15.

A ?10 million awareness campaign will encourage people to see a doctor if they show any sign of developing cancer symptoms, while funding will be announced for 1,200 additional cancer specialists.

At the same time, under previously announced plans GPs will be able to send patients directly for diagnostic tests without referral first to a consultant.

At the moment, some GPs have access to tests in primary care, including chest X-rays. But other scans have to be ordered by a specialist in hospital – meaning the patient gets referred there first by their GP.

Under the new plans, GPs will be able to order tests themselves, which might include ultrasounds for ovarian cancer, MRI scans for brain tumours and colonoscopies for bowel cancer.

Doctors will still have the option to send patients through the rapid referral system to see a specialist within two weeks.