The beginning of 2015 was pointedly marked by Dr Richard Smith’s comment that cancer is the best way to die.The comment met with extraordinary backlash from researchers, charities, and the families and friends of those that have witnessed the effects of cancer first hand.
This is an unfortunately misguided opinion that refuses to take into account young children and adults whose lives are cruelly cut short by the disease and works on the assumption that cancer patients are willing to admit to themselves and to their families that their condition may be terminal. Cancer can be a devastating disease and is still one of the world’s most common, but instead of either ignoring its tragic effects or shrugging it off as a death sentence, it is important to remember that progress is being made. Every year, researchers, charities, and fundraisers are able to support more scientific breakthroughs and crucial care that point to a positive future for the treatment and prevention of cancer.
February 4th marks World Cancer Awareness Day and the 7th anniversary of the day I lost my father to a rare and aggressive form of secondary cancer. By the time I had finished secondary school, several of my friends had already lost parents to the disease and others had even been diagnosed with it themselves. But for every person who loses their battle with cancer, another survives.
Cancer Research UK reports that over 1 in 3 people in the UK will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime, but also that cancer survival in the UK has doubled in the last 40 years, and that half of people diagnosed with cancer now survive the disease for at least ten years, and three-quarters of children are now cured of their disease. I have spoken to researchers and charities to gain a valuable insight into contemporary breakthroughs and fundraising efforts that aim to continue this growing trend of cancer prevention and treatment in the future.
When Nikki and Richard Bowdidge lost their 19-year-old son Tom to an extremely rare and inoperable cancer in October 2013, they wanted to continue his extraordinary legacy in his memory. After Tom was diagnosed, he decided to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust in order to make a difference to other young children and adults diagnosed with the disease, raising more than £170,000.00 for the charity. In his final hours, he told Nikki that he still had so much to do for the future of cancer and so with the help of his father Richard and his sister Emma, they went about setting up their own charity, the Tom Bowdidge Foundation.
The Tom Bowdidge Foundation was launched on February 28 2014, on what would have been Tom’s 20th birthday. The charity’s fundraising efforts are divided into three main areas: funding research, providing physical support, and providing emotional support. With their first-hand experience of how the disease affects young adults, Nikki, Richard, and Emma were able to focus their fundraising efforts in order to provide what they consider to be the most significant pillars of support during cancer diagnosis and treatment. The charity also supports research into teenage cancers and sarcomas (particularly rare and aggressive cancers that make up 11% of all cancer diagnoses in young children and adults).
Nikki Bowdidge recalls one particular cancer patient that the foundation was able to help:
“In the summer the Foundation heard about a young man called Reece Hawley who was fighting a brain tumour. He desperately needed a drug that would prolong his life but it was not available on the NHS. The Foundation’s trustees decided that the Foundation would fund £10,000 of this drug, giving Reece five weeks of treatment. This enabled Reece and his family to have a holiday where they could all spend quality time together before sadly he too passed away in October 2014.
“Around seven young people aged 13 to 24 are diagnosed with cancer in the UK every day. This is a staggering amount and every one of them requires specialist treatment and deserves to receive their care in the most appropriate environment. The Tom Bowdidge Foundation would like to see more research thrown at teenage cancer which is slowly increasing. It strongly believes in raising awareness, not only to raise much needed funds but also to make these young people aware of the signs of cancer as it has been proved that early diagnosis can prove invaluable. By working together with major charities and research institutes we will beat this vile disease – hopefully before too many more young lives are lost.”
It is not only in teenage cancer prevention and treatment that developments are being made. Tracey Camburn, NHS Research Director for the Mid-Essex region, tells me about how cancer treatment has developed in hospitals and how fundraising has been a huge benefit to research efforts:
“The difference with treating patients now compared to even five years ago, is that patients are now living with cancer rather than it being seen as a death sentence. Cancer is now a chronic condition which needs constant monitoring and should involve the patient in all treatment making decisions. The use of fundraising has allowed us to have a local research centre which saves patients having to travel into London for cancer trials and treatment.”
It is clear that present research and fundraising efforts are making a huge contribution to developments in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Crucial developments in chemotherapy and radiotherapy are predicted by the NHS in the next ten years. The Guardian also reports that survival rates are at their highest yet and they can only continue to rise: “Women with breast cancer now have a 78% chance of surviving for at least a decade – up from 40% in the 1970s. Testicular cancer patients have a 98% chance of surviving for 10 years and the chances of patients with malignant melanoma have risen from 46% to 89% since the 1970s.”
We have to remember that progress in the cancer community is slow but steady, but a cure may not be far off.
About the Author
