Talking About Cancer

Today at school our year group listened to a talk on cancer, given by a representative from Macmillan Cancer Support, which is a UK-based charity that strives to improve the lives of people living with cancer (link to their website is below). It was an informative and hard-hitting talk that elaborated upon what knowledge we already had of cancer and the symptoms associated with it. Primarily the talk focused upon emphasizing the need for people to know their bodies well and "know what's normal" biologically. This included demonstrations of checking for lumps in breasts and testicles, where an uncannily lifelike collection props was used by the speaker.

The most valuable piece of information that I took from the talk was that cancer affects everyone, whether they are diagnosed with cancer or they know a loved one who has been. I undertook some personal research and found that in 2008, it was estimated that there are just over two million people living with or beyond cancer in the UK who had previously been diagnosed, and this is predicted to rise by more than 3% a year. These figures were taken from Cancer Research UK, (link also below).
I was heartened to learn about the groundbreaking work that Macmillan does, and other charities like them, and I was touched by the sincerity and bravery of all the survivors of cancer that the charity represents. I recommend taking a look at their page, supporting their cause and getting more people talking about cancer.




http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Home.aspx
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/incidence/