On the pulse

Cancerkin News…
A fond farewell to Jean…
This week Cancerkin were hit with the sad news that our receptionist Jean Hafezi will be moving on to pastures new. We would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her hard work over the years and wish her the very best of luck with her future endeavours. We know that she will be sorely missed by both the patients and staff here at Cancerkin.

Hyde Park Walk winners…
Congratulations to Susan Glasser, Linda Cohen and Philippa Drew who were our top 3 fundraisers for this year’s Hyde Park Walk. Sue’s gold winning total was £3014.14, Linda managed to raise a total of £2586.58, closely followed by Philippa with £2234.51. Between them their efforts will make a valuable contribution to Cancerkin’s work this year. In reward, they will each receive an indulgent basket of goodies, kindly donated by Floris. We would also like to mention Hilary Presky and Rochelle and Carly Landau who just missed out on the prizes raising £1762.07 and £1540.22 respectively. These figures account for any fees we had to pay to Justgiving (the online donation portal) but do not include the returns we made from donations that had been gift aided.

If these women have inspired you and you would like to do some independent fundraising on behalf of Cancerkin please contact Lauren Newton for some help and guidance. Otherwise, let these fantastic results be targets for next years walk: T- minus 10 months and counting!

In The News….
America on brink of revoking advanced breast cancer drug…
Amid the frequent debates about America’s health care reforms, there has been a niggling question of how much the state should spend on new and expensive treatments. Enter, Avastin the world’s best selling cancer drug which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2008 for use on women with advanced level breast cancer. The draw backs? Well it costs £5,000 a month and in the US is currently used by 17,500 women each year. Approval for the drug came after a study found that by preventing blood flow to tumours the drug extended the time the disease took to worsen by up to 5 months. However, a more recent study has suggested that it may not extend a life for this period–not even for an extra month. The FDA advisory panel have thus voted 12-1 to stop endorsing the drug as a breast cancer treatment method, citing ‘effectiveness’ as a factor in question. However, with health reforms looming – where the government will help the poorer American citizens with health insurance, it has been suggested that ‘cost effectiveness’ has a role to play in the FDA’s decision. Whatever the reason, it is likely that if the approval of the drug is revoked, US insurers would stop paying for Avastin.

In the UK the National Institute for Clinical Excellence is currently reviewing whether Avastin should be available on the NHS for woman with breast cancer that has spread. A spokeswoman said: "We will continue to investigate the treatment regardless of the FDA decision”.

FDA have said that when reviewing drugs for approval they are only charged with looking at their health risks and benefits, not cost effectiveness. It usually follows advisory panel recommendations. A final decision will be announced on Sept 17. Read the full story here.

Pink in the Premier league..?
Well okay, its not quite the premier league but Harrogate Town FC have made big steps in philanthropic giving this week, unveiling a specially designed pink kit in hope of raising awareness and money for breast cancer. The words ‘Breast Cancer Support’ are displayed on the back of the kit, which will be worn on all away games. Janet O’Brien, a member of Harrogate Hospital’s Breast Cancer Unit praised the club’s efforts within the community saying, "They have made a huge commitment in terms of drawing attention to the condition and treatment of breast cancer by making a wonderful gesture…which will no doubt raise lots of attention and create lots of comment." Harrogate’s own Chief Executive, Alan Williams is no stranger to the disease, as his wife Jean has suffered with breast cancer for the last 10 years. With many clubs and their players hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons perhaps its time the premiership took a look at the commendable efforts from small town teams! We wish Harrogate Town FC the best of luck in all their away games.

Read the full story here.

Lauren Newton 20th August 2010
l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk