Throat Cancer Foundation - Launch

The Throat Cancer Foundation 

This charity has now been launched with very good media coverage from BBC News and the Scotsman newspaper. BBC Radio Scotland and Channel 5 News, amongst others, also covered the launch of the Throat Cancer Foundation.

Jamie Rae, a throat cancer patient, is the Chief Executive and the driving force behind the establishment of a charity which I believe will make a significant difference in the prevention, treatment and care of cancer.
   
As a another throat cancer patient, I am delighted to be so actively involved with this charity and pleased to become its first Chairperson. 

It is now 18 years since I was successfully treated in Nottingham by an outstanding team of health professionals at both the City and Queens Medical Centre sites of Nottingham University Hospitals. My cancer was squamous cell and directly linked to smoking - which I stopped on the day of my diagnosis.

I view myself as fortunate as I received my treatment from consultants who were committed to high quality research, keen to work as a team and willing to discuss my options openly and frankly.  

HPV (Human Papillomavirus) has been recognised as the cause of cervical cancer. More recently HPV is increasingly being acknowledged as a cause of certain cancers which affect the throat. If the current trends of HPV + Oropharyngeal Cancer continues, the number of cases will exceed those of Cervical Cancer by 2020. 

There has been a successful vaccination programme for girls in the UK since 2008. This is delivered through the school system and has ensured that there has been an excellent uptake of the vaccine protecting girls from HPV related illnesses.

The Throat Cancer Foundation is campaigning for a gender neutral vaccination.

As the Chair of the Throat Cancer Foundation (TCF) I would urge people to support this campaign.


You will see that I have also added a link along the top of the Blog to keep people informed about what TCF is doing.

Thanks for the best wishes from so many friends. These are all individuals who are making a difference so please click on those highlighted names to find out out more about them and what they are doing: Christine Allmark, Maggie Wilcox, Chris Curtis, Ralph Goodson, Fiona Fletcher, Malcolm Babb, David Hamilton MBE, Bec Hanley, Jean Gallagher, Michael Moran, Matthew J Cooke and Barrie.