On the pulse
Cancerkin's News Update.....
This will be our final newsletter of 2011 and I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of Cancerkin to wish you all the best for the festive season and the New Year. 2011 has been a wonderful year for Cancerkin, which would not have been possible if it were not for you. We wish to thank our supporters and funders for their generosity and support, our trustees, staff, therapists and volunteers for their help and hard work, and of course all our patients for their kind words and for inspiring us all to continue striving to provide the best possible service.
Please note that the Cancerkin Centre will still be open next week but that there will be no therapies taking place. The centre will be closed from Friday 23rd December and will reopen in the New Year on Tuesday 3rd January.
Cancerkin and the Big Give...
Thank you so much to all those who donated to Cancerkin during a week of online donation doubling. We are thrilled to announce we raised a total of £8,375 in donations from our supporters and match funding from the Pink Ribbon Foundation and the Big Give.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who experienced problems with the Big Give’s website for your patience and perseverance. The Big Give had some serious technical difficulties throughout the week and they have apologised for any inconvenience caused to you.
Christmas celebrations...
Cancerkin held another successful Tombola and gift sale last week to celebrate the festive season. Our lucky winners took home gifts from Le Pain Quotidien, Enz Hair Salon, Costa Coffee, Revlon, Susan Wainwright, Hampstead Tea Rooms, Gelato Mio and many more. Thank you to all the local businesses and supporters who donated prizes and thank you especially to Heidi Clevely who once again donated a fantastic selection of gift items for us to sell.
This Monday, commuters and residents of St John’s Wood were treated to a round of Christmas carols from the St John’s Wood church chamber choir. The choir sang festive favourites at the St John’s Wood underground station and held a collection in aid of Cancerkin. They raised a very impressive £290 – thank you to the choir for braving the cold and putting on such a wonderful show.
Cancerkin’s 25th Anniversary...
As 2012 approaches, we at Cancerkin are looking forward to a year of celebrations for our 25th Anniversary. Founded in 1987, Cancerkin will be commemorating a quarter century dedicated to the support and care of those affected by breast cancer. To mark this achievement, we will be kicking of the celebrations with our Annual Lecture on Tuesday 27th March, to be given by Professor Jonathan Waxman MD FRCP Professor of Oncology and Consultant Physician, Imperial College London, followed by our biggest and best Hyde Park yet on Sunday 17th June. More to be announced soon!
In the News.....
Controlling your cancer risk...
Our risk of developing cancer is based on a mixture of factors – our genes, our environment and our lifestyle choices, some of which we are able to control. Research has shown that leading a healthy lifestyle helps to reduce our cancer risk. Cancer Research UK this month published a ‘landmark’ review, led by Professor Max Parkin, into the latest evidence behind the preventable causes of cancers in the UK, producing some interesting results.
The review looked at 14 lifestyle and environmental risk factors, including tobacco, being overweight, a diet low infruit and vegetables, alcohol, occupation, sunlight and sunbeds, and analysed the proportion of different cancers that could be prevented through changes to these factors. Based on predicted cases of cancer in 2010, it found that a third of all UK diagnoses each year were caused by smoking, diet, alcohol and obesity. For all cancers, the biggest preventable risk factor was tobacco. For breast cancer specifically, the biggest, in order of significance, were: being overweight, alcohol, occupation, hormone replacement therapy, inactivity, not breast feeding, radiation. CRUK has produced a fascinating infographic which displays the findings for each cancer type and the proportion that could be prevented through changes to the various lifestyle factors. To see it, please click here.
Writing in its science blog, CRUK was quick to highlight that sharing these results was in no way about blame but was aimed at equipping the public and policy-makers with the best possible information. Every person diagnosed with cancer has a unique set of circumstances that led them to develop the disease, some of which could have been controlled, some which could not. Furthermore, leading a healthy lifestyle is not a guarantee against cancer. In both instances however, there are factors that we can control and ways that we can reduce our risk, to ‘stack the odds in our favour.’ In terms of policy-makers, information is vital in planning public health interventions. For example, decades of research into the risks of smoking has led to the implementation of successful policies to encourage people to give up, the effects of which can now be seen in the decreasing rates of lung cancer in UK men.
To read more on the review’s findings, click here, or to read the science blog in full, which includes a discussion of each of the risk factors examined in the review, please click. here. You can also read Professor Waxman’s commentary on the review here, in which he describes the urgent need for the government to address obesity in the same way it has tackled smoking.
Laura Smith
