On the pulse...for people affected by breast cancer

On the pulse

Cancerkin News…
Many hands make light work…
Cancerkin are pleased to welcome another new intern, Guy Mollett. Guy will be with Cancerkin for a month before he returns to school for his A Levels, after which he hopes to go to University to study medicine. Guy has been helping with all things financial, processing our Hyde Park Walk and La Boheme sponsorship. If you have yet to send yours in please do at your earliest convenience so that we can get it all accounted for whilst we have Guy’s valuable help.

In the News…
Another young woman to the count…
Nicola Duffy was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer at the tender age of 31. With a history of breast cancer throughout her grandmothers, mother and aunts the risk was always there, but for Nicola, and many more women like her, the diagnosis came much earlier than expected. This is the third story of a young woman with breast cancer that has featured in the press in so many months; highlighting the increase in of cancer in those under 50. Her story, published in last week’s Stylist magazine, documents the trouble she had fitting in doctor’s appointments around her ‘demanding role in recruitment’ and her struggle with stopping it ‘getting in the way of my dreams’. Nicola also quite happily disclosed the fear she felt when she decided to have a double mastectomy and the worry about how this would affect her relationship with her boyfriend who had ‘assured me he would still love me, no matter what’.

Despite its relatively short length, I wonder if Stylist or indeed Nicola herself realised how many crucial issues for young women the article touched upon. The Cancerkin Young Women’s Support Group, currently in the planning stage, will respond to the issues that Nicola and many others like her experience. Worries about work pressures, career prospects, fertility, sexuality, body image, relationships, genetics etc. Our opera evening, which has been praised by Simon Thomas(opera reviewer for What’s On Stage) on Twitter is raising money to help establish this support group. If you, or anyone you know would like more information about the Young Women’s Group or the Opera Gala please contact Lauren Newton on l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk . To read Simon Thomas’ Review click here.

Breakthrough in treating aggressive breast cancer could be on the way….
HER2 – a form of breast cancer which encourages the disease to spread around the body, often causing fatal secondary tumours, affects around 9,000 women each year- approximately 1 in 5 of UK women suffering with the disease. A team in Edinburgh have now discovered the gene that causes HER2 to spread so fast and dangerously. This discovery means that new drugs will be able to be manufactured to block the gene’s function and therefore prevent the cancer from spreading to other parts of the body. Research leader Dr Elad Katz, from the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, said: “With all cancers, the key is working out how they form and spread. Identifying this gene’s key role in the spread of this type of breast cancer is a significant finding.” Professor David Harrison, Director of the Unit agrees saying:“It is exciting to know there is a drug out there which could potentially stop this process happening and save the lives of women with breast cancer.” Read the full details here.

A creative path to empathy…
Comic books are increasingly being used by medical lecturers to teach their students medicine from the patients view. The comic strips show how treatments and diagnosis affect the patients and their families and are being used in universities to help students understand the doctor-patient relationship and empathy. ‘Cancer Vixen’ a comic about a women’s experience of breast cancer is one of these graphic novels; the comic can be found in the Cancerkin reference library for any of you who would like to take a peek. Read the full story here.

Cancer survival rates have nearly doubled in the last 30 years…
Although the hippie age is over with the principles of freedom, truth, love and peace almost dead in the water, BBC news online published some figures this week which should make us happy to be living in the fast-paced 21st century. A recent comparative study found that compared to 1970 the chance of surviving for 10 years following a cancer diagnosis has doubled (for most common cancers only). For breast cancer alone survival rates have increased from 40% to 77%; a massive leap in progress. The increases have been attributed to advances in medical techniques and treatments, thorough and accessible screening processes and an increased knowledge of cancer and its symptoms helping to result in earlier detection. To read the full article and see the statistics of other cancer forms please click here.

Lauren Newton 15th July 2010
l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk