As we approach another festive period, my thoughts return to this time 4 years ago. I had been diagnosed with metastatic neuroendocrine Cancer a few months before and that it was incurable. However, with 'debulking' surgery my prognosis could be significantly improved. In fact, Neuroendocrine cancers are one of a small number of tumours for which surgical debulking confers some survival advantage. Another term…
I’ve always had a ‘sweet tooth’ and the softer the sweet the better – toffee, marshmallows, chocolate, jelly babies, jelly beans, fruit pastilles, fudge and macaroon are all on my list of favourites. In terms of desserts, I love those too – ice cream, cheese cake, meringue, cake, sponge with custard, the list is endless. And of course a hot drink isn’t complete without a biscuit (or three…
I've been interested in science since my school days and seem to remember it was separated into Biology, Physics and Chemistry for study and examination purposes. Biology wasn't on my radar and as I found Chemistry boring, I focussed on Physics which seemed to be much more 'modern' and exciting. Curiously, at the beginning of my Open University degree course some 25 years later, I found the Biology and Chemistry modules…
I've never smoked so I'm reasonably confident that my own cancer experience is not related to this type of personal lifestyle. I did, however, grow up in a world where smoking was widespread and a generally accepted behaviour.
We now know that smoking causes more than four in five cases of lung cancer. Lung cancer not only has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, but is the most common cause of cancer death…
The papers and social media seem to be full of awareness and early diagnosis articles this month. This coincided with world NET Cancer Day on 10 Nov and world Pancreatic Cancer day on 13 Nov. Social media was therefore buzzing with messages from organisations supporting and advocating for both of these cancer types. These issues also made it to the conventional media outlets of newspapers, radio and television. Last…
