Archive for the cancer charities Category

Cancer And The Impact On Our Mental Health.

Chris On January 19, 2020 / cancer, cancer awareness, cancer charities, cancer survival / 4 Comments

We are hearing the word isolation being used more frequently these days. It is a word that has been associated with cancer for some time, but now we are more aware of our mental health it is being used in that area too. I am finding it very ironic that we live in a time when we have never had more ways of communicating with each other! How can we feel emotionally and socially isolated with so many people around us? We all deal with things differently, and face unique challenges daily. Although we are not the only one to have these issues it feels like we are. Self doubt can creep in very quickly and before we know it we begin to feel detached from everyone. I can speak

2020 Is The Time For Positive Thoughts And Actions!

Chris On January 5, 2020 / cancer charities, Cancer Support, cancer survival, cancer treatment / 2 Comments

Back in 2007 seeing 2010 was a massive ambition! Now I am entering 2020, and it feels good. Not only am I still alive but able to help people across the globe by using my own experience, there are business challenges too! My life is full in a positive way, with plenty to keep me busy and taking time to watch my grandchildren grow up. Although my body is struggling to cope now with some of the long term effects of my treatment, I am extremely grateful for everything I have. Yes I am slowing down and using my experience to work more efficiently. Taking time between tasks to conserve energy, but I understand that my choices are limited. In recent years there has been so much negativity in the

“There Is Nothing More We Can Do for You!”

Chris On December 8, 2019 / cancer charities, cancer frustration, cancer policy, Cancer Support, cancer survival, cancer treatment / 13 Comments

Surviving cancer can frequently feel like you are living with a very fast ticking bomb! Time feels like it is slipping through your fingers and there is just never enough of it. Having said that it also seems that any interventions you need for your disease take far too long. Our perception of time seems to have changed. Since my own diagnosis and life changing experiences, I spend most of my time working in a cancer environment, with either patients or clinicians. Having done this for many years now I find that I am working more frequently in the international arena, which I really enjoy. I have always insisted that large healthcare organisations including charities and pharma just do not move quickly enough to help people such as myself. Of

I’m Ashamed Of What I’m Seeing!

Chris On October 6, 2019 / cancer, cancer awareness, cancer charities, cancer frustration, cancer policy, cancer survival, Uncategorized / 6 Comments

No I am not talking about the behaviour of our politicians, as I certainly don’t want to give any single one of them the publicity oxygen they so crave. Unfortunately our NHS is controlled by these people and it is now easy for everyone to see why things are in a complete mess. Year after year the big decisions have been ignored causing delay upon delay for both patients and staff. We are now in the position where we are short of key staff and our infrastructure is crumbling, in more ways than one! The service is an incredibly difficult place to work and morale on the whole is low. This is not something that can be solved by money alone. I would like to talk specifically about the cancer

Bottom Of The League, But More Excuses!

Chris On September 22, 2019 / #cancer #hcsm cancer treatment, cancer, cancer awareness, cancer charities, cancer frustration, cancer information, cancer policy, Macmillan / 14 Comments

There is nobody who likes to look at the world through ‘rose tinted’ glasses more than me! But at times that view must be tempered with a cold dose of reality. One of the headlines I read recently was ‘Britain sits at bottom of global league table for cancer survival rates.’ Unfortunately headlines like this don’t shock me anymore, why should we expect anything else? With a Government that has lost interest in governing, a Health Service trying to stay afloat, and large cancer charities jostling each other for money and influence, what chance is there for patients? Yes the figures are only up till 2014 and of course people are already arguing that things have improved, but those are policy makers, and not patients, having their lives torn apart

How SimPal Is Changing Lives!

Chris On August 25, 2019 / cancer awareness, cancer charities, cancer publicity, Cancer Support / 2 Comments

Life has been very fast and furious in the last few weeks! So many incredibly positive things happening around me at the moment that it is becoming difficult to take time out to write about them through this blog. In this post I would like to focus on the work that my charity SimPal is doing and the progress we are making across the UK. We are the only charity in the UK giving free pre-paid sim cards and mobile phones, to people affected by cancer, with no means testing and including ‘people affected by cancer’ not just patients! Our offer is to sponsor people for an initial 6 months, which is then reviewed. Once your application has been approved, the card/phone remain yours, at the end of the term.

Macmillan Cancer Support, Are You Listening Yet?

Chris On July 28, 2019 / cancer, cancer awareness, cancer charities, Cancer Support, cancer survival / 19 Comments

I have just been sent a copy of the latest set of accounts from Macmillan Cancer Support, the headline being that ‘fundraised income’ dropped from £247.7m in 2017 to £230.8 in 2018. A drop of nearly £17m, which is large in anyone’s book. So finally even the ‘big green corporate beast’ of the cancer world is being impacted by it’s continual practice of wanting to totally dominate the sector, from small groups right up to Government. Doing it’s best to tell us what we want/need, which of course must be right because Macmillan tell us! This organisation has become the darling of the media and politicians. On almost any cancer related issue it seems it is not complete without a quote from their many highly paid ‘media friendly’ team. Macmillan

Cancer Care Is Lost Amongst Political Posturing!

Chris On July 14, 2019 / cancer, cancer awareness, cancer charities, cancer information, Cancer Support, cancer survival / 4 Comments

The one thing we all know is that cancer does not wait for anything. It continues on it’s destructive path no matter what is happening in the world, showing no respect to any human in it’s way. My belief is that it is the modern day plague. On most days our media will contain stories about food, pollution and lifestyle encouraging the relentless charge of cancer. Also we hear about wonderful new treatments that might change our lives in the future. We have indeed made some progress over the years with approximately 50% of us actually living with the disease rather than dying of it. But our chances of being directly affected by cancer have got worse, going from 1 in 3 to just 1 in 2! We have already