World cancer Day, 4th Feb

#worldcancerday

How sad that even such a day exists?

World Cancer Day is led by the UICC, the Union for International Cancer Control. CRUK is one of its thousand members from across 162 countries, and we also sit on the board. World Cancer Day is the one singular initiative under which the entire world can unite together in the fight against the global cancer epidemic. No single person, organisation or country is going to beat cancer on its own. We must all work together to make faster progress on our goal of 3 in 4 people surviving cancer by 2034.

What does cancer look like these days?

For the 1 in 2 diagnosed in their lifetime it can look like being ill, weakened by the disease, surgery or treatment, exhausted (tired doesn’t touch it) and scary. You can be left with a disability, chronic illness, scars and mental anguish.

It can also look like any other person you’d pass on the street, where the simple act of putting on make up, dressing nice and doing one’s hair to “feel” better, sticking two fingers up to it, putting on a mask in the hope you start to believe that mask yourself

As well as wearing a Cancer Research UK wrist band, we can unite our voices. Let ourselves be heard shouting about symptoms, awareness and screenings. All of this can save lives.

In the UK the survival rate has doubled which is amazing. We still have more to do though, we need all of those 1 in 2 to trust themselves, we need to medical world to trust the patients and we need to please please please stop being scared to get checked

This isn’t just about bowel cancer or lynch Syndrome, it’s about so much more.

I will shout. You with me?