On the pulse - 25th November 2011

On the pulse...

Cancerkin's News Update.....

The Big Give and Cancerkin...

As we announced last week, this Christmas there is an exciting opportunity to make your generosity to Cancerkin go twice as far. Cancerkin is taking part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge on Monday 5th December 2011. The Pink Ribbon Foundation and the Big Give have generously pledged to match every online donation made on that day pound for pound. Our target is to raise £5,000, which means we stand to receive an incredible £10,000.

Please do put the date in your diary. This is a unique fundraising event and the proceeds will enable us to continue providing care and emotional support to those with breast cancer. We do hope you will be able to support us. For more information, please contact Laura on l.smith@cancerkin.org.uk.

Cancerkin also has an item up for sale in the Big Give’s Charity Christmas Auction – a 1969 Lynn Chadwick print, framed and signed by the artist. Chadwick was a celebrated British artist and sculptor, and the piece was kindly donated to Cancerkin to raise funds. The online auction will run from 8pm on Sunday 27th November to 8pm on Sunday 4th December 2011. If you would like to know more, please click here.

Festivities at Cancerkin...

Our annual Christmas Tombola will be on Wednesday 7th December 2011 from 10am to 4pm outside the Atrium at the Royal Free Hospital. New prizes have been added this week, including meals at le Pain Quotidien, ice cream at Gelato Mio and tickets to the Everyman Cinema. There will also be lots of lovely festive gifts, cards, books and, of course, mince pies on offer in our sale. If you would like to donate a prize or would like to volunteer at the tombola, please contact Laura on l.smith@cancerkin.org.uk or call 0207 830 2323.

In other festive news, Cancerkin has been selected as the lucky charity to benefit from funds raised at the Finchley Women’s Institute ‘Frost Fair’. The fair is on Saturday 3rd December 2011 at Avenue House on East End Road, Finchley from 10am-4pm, entry £1. There will be gifts, toys and scrumptious cakes on sale, so why not pop in for a cup of tea and a bit of shopping.

Cancerkin is also thrilled to be the chosen charity for the St John’s Wood Church Chamber Choir’s annual carol singing collection at the St John’s Wood Underground Station. The choir will be braving the December cold to entertain passersby with a selection of festive carols on Monday 12th December from 5pm. Please do watch out for them on your way past, or you might even like to join in.


In the News.....

Research into genetic testing underway...

Cancer Research UK has this week announced it has started recruiting participants for its nationwide research project into the potential benefits of genetic testing for cancer patients. The project aims to demonstrate how the NHS could use genetic testing of cancers to match patients to the best available treatments. It will also provide a database of information for research into new targeted drugs.

The ‘Stratified Medicine Programme’ will ask 9,000 patients from more than 20 hospitals to participate in the first stage of the project. So far 240 patients have agreed to take part. The research will focus on six types of cancer: breast, bowel, lung, prostate, ovarian and melanoma skin cancer. A small sample from each patient’s tumour will be taken, from which DNA will be extracted and analysed for a range of molecular faults linked with cancer. Researchers will store these results and other clinical information so that they can monitor possible relationships between specific genetic faults in cancer cells and success of different treatments. Patients’ treatment will not be altered in any way at this stage but the hope is that scientists will be able to use the information collected to design better targeted treatments in the future.

One of the first patients to be taking part, Wendy Payne,55, from Cambridge and who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in March this year, said of the project: “I was very keen to take part in the Stratified Medicine Programme because I think much more can and should be done to help patients get the right drugs in future. Finding out I had cancer was terrifying but it’s incredible to think that the tumour which could have killed me can now be used to develop more targeted drugs in future. Even though I won’t benefit from that research, it’s comforting to think that my experience with cancer will be helping others who are diagnosed in future.”

James Peach, director of Cancer Research UK’s Stratified Medicine Programme, said: “In the ten years since the Human Genome Project was completed we’ve made huge progress in unraveling the genetic basis of cancer and understanding what drives it at a molecular level. We know that prescribing certain drugs according to the genetic basis of the tumour can improve the chances of successful treatment. And by hardwiring research into the day-to-day care of cancer patients, we can harness the power of the NHS to bring personalised medicine a step closer to reality.”

To read more, please click here.


Laura Smith