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.”