We are pleased to announce that we have booked Wickham Park Golf Club for our first Four Ball4One Ball Charity Golf Open.
It will be held on Saturday 18th August 2012.
Price is £200 per team of four, which will include: Breakfast roll, tea/coffee, 18 holes and a two course meal.
Take a swing at cancer!!!
Well it’s here at last!!!
Today is our second annual Golf day. It started off around 11am. 13 teams of 4 turned in. The last week or so has been constant rain and yesterday the course was closed because the weather was so bad.
I woke up to heavy heavy rain and strong winds, expecting a message from the golf club, saying the day would be called off. It wasn’t.
First tee off was at 1115 and the rain stopped. The past team came in at 1815 and there was still no rain. I’m sure someone was watching down on us!!!
I’m still speechless regarding the weather, still can’t believe how we got away with it!!!
We had a raffle with loads of prizes which included an England shirt signed by Wayne Rooney, some signed footballs and gift vouchers.
Also an auction which included some if the 1966 World Cup players signed shirts, aguitar signed by
Take That and a week in an apartment in Spain!!!
We raised over £3500 clear profit.
What a night.
Thanks to everyone involved, from the players to the bar staff, from DJ Stretch to Malcolm the auctioneer. And to everyone who donated money and the excellent prizes!!!
I went to the Dr again yesterday because I’ve had a pain in my remaining nut for the last nine weeks.
I was promised this two months ago but it never happened for some reason.
I saw Dr Black and she was not impressed that id still not had the scan. She phoned the other surgery in Crookhorn, where Dr Mannings is based. They said they could get it done within two weeks.
About three hours later I got a call from the surgery asking me if I was able to come to the surgery today for an ultrasound. I got there at 930 with Angie and was virtually called straight in.
I dropped my trousers and laid on the bed. Then for the next five minutes, he was looking around the ‘nut’ with the wand. He gave up and was happy that there was nothing there.
What a relief that was!!!
He also went on to tell me that he was really not happy with the hospital not giving me a date for the scan, and if I ever get the pain again ( which I still have by the way) I should phone his surgery straight away and he would see me that day.
Two minutes of his life could save mine.
This Dr is awesome.
Thank you Dr Mannings.
I’m here at Southampton hospital again with Angie.
Today hopefully they will have some more good news for us. They should have the funding for the treatment I’ll be receiving. So I’ll find out in a bit when I see Dr Simmonds.
I’m crapping myself again as you do, my heart is racing and I keep needing to go to the toilet.
Anyway I’ll be going in in a bit.
So we walk in and Dr Simmonds asks me how I am? I told him I’m bricking it. So he hit straight back at me with the excellent news, that there’s nothing to worry about.
My body is clear of it, the PET Scan showed nothing at all.
I also got my treatment today as well. It will be one 400mg tablet a day for 3 years unless the side effects become too much for me.
I was at work today, when I got a call from Dr Fehr from Southampton General. He told me not to panic, theres nothing to worry about, but they still haven’t got the funding in place for my treatment. So theres no need to come in for my appointment and results from the scan that I had last week. He went on to say that they are happy with the results from the scan, but it would be a waste of my time going to the hospital because there would be nothing different to tell me.
To say it was a relief was an understatement.
But within 10 minutes I was back down again. I just keep thinking bad things all the time and I shouldn’t.
Ive had two pieces of bad news in the last 18 months and that is it. They’ve removed both tumours, with success but Im still finding it hard to deal with it. I hate being on my own, I know I’m just being stupid but I can’t help it.
Anyway I spoke to Louise, my cancer nurse as well and she was a massive help as well. She rearranged my appointment for the 8th March, so Ill go back again and get some more good news hopefully, and some treatment as well.
I’m in Southampton Hospital again with Angie and Eddie waiting for a PET Scan to be done.
Bloody hungry, not eaten since last night and only water to drink.
This scan goes a bit deeper than the normal CT Scan and can see what the cells in my body are doing. So if anything is happening it can get picked up earlier.
The whole procedure should take around 90 minutes, so I’ll be home for some lunch!!!
The 39-year-old, who starred in The Bill and Footballers’ Wives, broke the news on his Twitter page.
He wrote: “After getting scariest news yesterday, I have to now postpone my LA adventure for at least six months. I was born a fighter and will fight this.”
Days later Ben wrote: “Great meeting with oncologist today, lovely guy, v positive, I was terrified he’d give me bad news.”
Ben then thanked his wife Helen, 37, calling her a “rock by my side.”
After the appointment he told his 8,576 Twitter fans: “Yep, time to battle the big C. Prognosis is good gang and should KICK THIS INTO TOUCH in about six months, well this should be a different journey.”
The couple have been blighted by tragedy after losing four babies, each still born due to a rare condition, since they married in 2003.
In 2008 Ben, told Hello Magazine: “We’ve had a terrible time, but I’ve had incredible support. We’re in limbo as far as having a family goes. Hopefully in the future it’s something we can do, there are different options to look at.”
Of his cancer revelation, Helen tweeted: “could life be any crueller right now?” adding that she keeps hoping to be slapped in the face with a wet fish and told it’s all a big joke.
Ben, who starred as PC Nate Roberts in The Bill and Bruno Milligan in Footballers’ Wives, has not revealed which type of cancer he is suffering from, but has supported several cancer charities for years, including Teenage Cancer Trust.
He is also a patron of the Chestnut Tree Hospice and ran 10k for Cancer Research UK in 2009.
source The Mirror
Today is another routine checkup with Dr Simmonds at The QA Hospital.
I feel like shit, I have done for a few days now. Finding it hard to take it all in and accept that the bastard thing has gone!!! I haven’t got cancer, it got taken out of me twice!!!
I’m being an idiot and I know it, but I can’t snap out of it and it is dragging everyone around me down. It’s not fair on them.
I’m sitting in the waiting room and looking at all of these poor, poor people waiting for their radiotherapy and chemotherapy. I’m not even in the same bracket as these ‘HEROES’.
For some reason my heart was going loopy, the pulse was racing and I was shaking madly. Really didn’t know what was going on at all.
I didn’t get to see Dr Simmonds, instead spoke to Gus. Angie and Eddie came in with me.
He said he didn’t know anything about the GIST but went on to tell me about the testicular cancer.
The operation itself cut the odds of a relapse down to around 20%, the chemo again cut the chances of it coming back again down to around 5%. So there is virtually no chance of it coming back at all which is comforting.
We spoke about me having another ultrasound on the remaining nut, just to ease my mind because I’ve had pain in it for the last week which is bizarre.
Also i’m being booked in for some counselling, because my head is all over the place at the moment. I’m finding it hard work to get my head around being diagnosed with two different cancers in the space of 14 months.
I don’t know if I’m coming or going and it is not fair on Angie and Maisie.
This is a link to my good friends fundraising page. Please donate, every penny will help.
Please copy and paste into the address bar, cheers
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/sophieclulow1
Hi Everyone,
I shall be doing a 23 mile walk the Portsmouth QA’s Neonatal Unit. The walk is in memory of a little boy called Owen who was cared for at the unit but, unfortunately lost his battle.
The QA NICU is very close to myself, Lee & our families hearts. Our daughter Tabitha was born at 23 weeks & 5 days weighing a tiny 15oz’s! Thanks to all the AMAZING doctors, nurses & support staff at QA NICU who cared for Tabitha for 17 long weeks, we now have a beautiful, cheeky 18 month old daughter 
The money raised will be going to ‘Ickle Pickles’ who will then use it to buy equipment for the unit. Myself & Lee consider ourselves unbelievably lucky to have had such an amazing team of people look after our daughter, without them & the equipment she & all the other babies needed, we wouldn’t have her now!
I really hope you all consider this as worthy a charity as we do & will kindly sponsor me… every little counts!
Thankyou & Lots of Love,
Sophie, Lee & Tabitha x
Today is the second full day back at work. Its as if I’ve never been away. ALthough its been quite tiring.
I had an appointment today to see Dr Simmonds. Didn’t see him saw Dr Fehr. He told us that they are still happy with the way the op went and explained to us the side effects of GLIVEC and how it should work. I will be on them for 3 years, one a day. Some of the side effects are not good, but I’m sure I’m able to put up with that. I’d rather have the side effects rather than the illness.
I’ll be back in a couple of weeks for a PET scan. This goes a bit deeper than the CT scan and should pick out any rogue cells that may have escaped.
Then back in 4 weeks to get the results.
Another visit to see the Dr today. God I feel like a sicknote!!!
I was watching the film Bucketlist last night and suddenly felt a pain in my left armpit. There was a lump there and I felt instantly sick. First thought was lymph nodes and it had spread and gone undetected.
I phoned the surgery and Dr Kyd answered. I told her what was going on and she booked me in for a 3:30 appointment.
Dr plane was the GP that I saw today.
He said he thinks it’s a sebaceous cyst and gave me a course of antibiotics and said he wants to see me next Monday.
by Airman 1st Class Tom Brading
Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs
For Master Sgt. Scott Kapanke, the 437th Maintenance Squadron flight chief at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., cancer wasn’t a death sentence, no matter how unfavorable his odds were. To him, it was just another challenge to face.
In 1995, Kapanke was a 23-year-old, C-130 Hercules maintenance student at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., when doctors detected he had testicular cancer, and it had spread throughout his body. The cancer had reached Kapanke’s neck and although he didn’t know it at the time, one of the tumors was pressing against his nerves. This caused chronic pain in his arm.
Kapanke said he first thought he was suffering from a bad reaction to a flu shot. He used pain relievers to try to cope with the agony in his arm. After enduring constant torture from the physical suffering on a daily basis, Kapanke finally agreed to see a doctor. After initial testing, the doctors diagnoses was much more severe than a bad reaction to a flu shot.
The testicular cancer had metastasized into 45 tumors between his waist and neck.
Doctors wanted to medically evacuate Kapanke immediately to Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas. However, Kapanke refused to be flown.
“I wasn’t going to die overnight,” Kapanke said. “So, there was no reason to fly when I could easily drive. I didn’t want to leave my truck at my temporary duty assignment.”
Against doctor’s wishes, Kapanke drove himself to WHMC where he remained for more than a year and underwent treatments to remove the tumors. The first treatments were multiple rounds of chemotherapy.
“Each session of chemo had little to no effect on the tumors,” Kapanke said. “The fourth round of chemo was the most potent dose, and it did very little to help.”
Chemotherapy was no longer an option.
The once energetic and muscular Kapanke was reduced to a frail shell of his former self. He went from 206 pounds to 130 in just a few weeks. After losing all of his hair, weight and confidence, Kapanke said he detached himself from the world and everyone he knew.
“I separated myself from everyone,” he said. “My family would visit, but I didn’t feel very social. After chemo failed, my only option was bone marrow transplants.”
Kapanke said he had given up hope. He regularly witnessed death at while at the hospital and also noticed none of the other patients had cancer as severe as his. Kapanke reached a point where he accepted the likelihood he was going to die.
“After I accepted death, I was at peace,” Kapanke said. “I had done more things and seen more places than any man could have dreamed of. The Air Force had given me the opportunity to travel the world.”
But the bone marrow transplants were gradually beginning to work. They were very dangerous procedures and after the second transplant, Kapanke still had six tumors in his chest.
Doctors suggested surgically removing the remaining tumors. Kapanke was given a computerized tomography scan by the WHMC team prior to his operation.
“The doctors analyzed my CT scan results,” said Kapanke. “They told me surgery would be a waste of time. I initially took the remark as my death sentence. However, surgery wasn’t necessary anymore because all my tumors had vanished.”
Kananke said the news hit him like a ton of bricks.
Although the reason why the tumors vanished remain a mystery, his battle with cancer was over. More than a year of having his health on a downward spiral, losing his hair and anticipating his own death, Kapanke was able to breathe fresh air again and he walked out of WHMC with his life.
Kapanke moved to Colorado after his release from medical treatment but continued to travel to WHMC for checkups.
Kanpanke said being an Airman was always his passion, but everything he underwent had taken a toll on his body. In early 1996, he was forced into medical retirement from the Air Force. The retirement was due to the progression of the cancer and intensity of the treatment.
“After medically retiring, I had monthly check ups with doctors,” Kapanke said. “My health seemed great. Eventually, the doctors started seeing me less often.”
After a year and a half, Kapanke said he felt healthy enough to serve again. He fought his forced retirement all the way up the chain of command to the Secretary of the Air Force.
“I was skinny and bald,” Kapanke said. “But, I could still turn a wrench, so I fought to get my job back.”
The WHMC team tested Kapanke’s condition and determined he was fit for active duty. In May1997, Kapanke was reinstated into the Air Force.
“The transition back was flawless,” Kapanke said. “I was doing what I loved again.”
Kapanke challenged himself by taking a special-duty assignment at Nellis AFB, Nev., where he became a crew chief for the Air Force aerial demonstration team, the Thunderbirds.
“Working with the Thunderbirds was great,” Kapanke said. “It taught me attention to detail, which helped a lot when I got to my next assignment with the 437th MXS here at Joint Base Charleston.”
In August 2007, Kapanke deployed for 365 days with the Coalition Air Force transition team to Southwest Asia to train the Iraqi air force to perform maintenance on C-130s.
The yearlong deployment was Kapanke’s first combat-zone assignment. However, he said it wasn’t his first time he felt death lingering around every corner.
“During the deployment, I survived 57 rocket and 16 mortar attacks,” Kapanke said. “Death could have come at any time and from any direction. I’ve faced it before, so I wasn’t going to let fear stop me from doing my job.
“The Iraqis didn’t fear anything,” Kapanke said. “Rockets would explode all around us, and they would casually enjoy a cup of hot tea. It was just the way of life to them.”
The cancer earlier in his career was an internal battle. However, it left him stronger and like the Iraqi service members, he was able to fearlessly stand up and stare death in the eyes.
Kapanke beat cancer nearly 15 years ago and said he owes every step he succeeds to the previous ones he’s taken.
“I look forward to having more challenges during my Air Force career,” Kapanke said. “I’ll be able to face them with confidence because of all the challenges I’ve had.”
This is the treatment I’ll be receiving.
Gotta take one tablet a day for a year.
Hopefully it’s not as intense as chemo but as effective.
GLIVEC (imatinib), which is known as “Gleevec” in the United States, is a cancer treatment indicated for:
Adult and pediatric patients with newly diagnosed Ph+ Chronic Myeloid Leukemia for whom bone marrow transplantation is not considered as the first line of treatment.
Adult and pediatric patients with Ph+ Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in chronic phase after failure of interferon-alfa therapy, or in accelerated phase or blast crisis.
Adult patients with newly diagnosed Ph+ ALL integrated with chemotherapy.
Adult patients with relapsed or refractory Ph+ ALL as monotherapy.
Adult patients with myelodysplastic syndrome/myeloproliferative diseases (MDS/MPD) associated with platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) gene rearrangements.
Adult patients with advanced hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) and/or chronic eosinophilic leukemia (CEL) with FIP1L1-PDGFRa rearrangement.
Glivec is also indicated for:
Adult patients with Kit (CD117)-positive unresectable and/or metastatic malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST)
Adult patients with unresectable dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) and adult patients with recurrent and/or metastatic DFSP who are not eligible for surgery.
The NHS will pay to remove breast implants at the centre of a global health scare.
For the 3,000 patients who had the PIP implants fitted on the NHS, anxiety about them will be enough to qualify for an operation to replace them with high-quality alternatives.
But last night Health Secretary Andrew Lansley also cleared the way for up to 47,000 private patients to have the PIP implants removed at taxpayers’ expense – if there is a clinical need.
He said there was no evidence to recommend routine removal, but private clinics had a ‘moral duty’ to take them out, and if they would not, the NHS would step in.
The Government would then try to claw back the money from the clinics at a later date.
Asked if women would be able to have implants removed by the NHS even if they were fitted privately, Mr Lansley replied: ‘Of course it remains true – as it is for all patients – that if they have a clinical need the NHS is there to support them.’
Announcement: Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the data available to experts has not been good enough to give them a clear idea of the risk posed by the controversial PIP implants
The definition of clinical need includes women whose implants are intact but are overwhelmed with anxiety. The Government expects most private clinics to absorb the cost but has pledged no women will ‘be abandoned’.
It is estimated that if the NHS funded the removal of all 50,000 of the implants believed to be fitted in British women, the total bill would reach £150million.
Paying for a third would cost £50million, the amount clinics are estimated to have made by choosing cut-price PIP implants over better-quality ones.
Most of those fitted with the implants on the NHS will be breast cancer survivors, while private patients are likely to have them for cosmetic reasons.
A number of private clinics have said they will go under if they have to fund surgery, while others are charging women thousands of pounds to have the substandard implants taken out.
Women treated at a private clinic that has since gone out of business will also be entitled to NHS care.
Concerns about the safety of the PIP implants were first raised in France when surgeons noticed they were rupturing more easily than other brands.
The failure rate there has been cited as 5-10 per cent and tests show they are filled with industrial-grade silicone contaminated with fuel additives and window sealant.
ixteen cases of cancer, one fatal, have since been linked to the implants and the French government has agreed to fund routine removal for the 30,000 women affected there.
Germany and the Czech Republic are also recommending removal of the implants.
Last night, after a review ordered by Mr Lansley, the Department of Health said its experts had concluded there was no link between the implants and cancer.
However, the review panel could not establish if the rupture rate for the PIP implants was higher than others – and could not rule out the possibility that some are toxic.
Mark Harvey, a partner at Hugh James solicitors, which is representing more than 250 women, accused the Government of making a ‘tacit admission’ that it could not compel clinics to act.
He added: ‘What they have done is put the ball firmly in the court of the clinics, and we expect the clinics to meet that challenge and to follow the NHS’s lead. If they do not, we will be asking the courts to compel them to act.’
It emerged yesterday that former Poly Implant Prosthese owner Jean-Claude Mas, 72, scornfully dismissed women’s fears about the implants in a statement to French police in October 2010, shortly after his factory was closed down.
He said of women taking legal action against him: ‘These are people who are psychologically fragile or are doing it for the money.’
He also admitted he used illegally obtained low-cost silicone gel never tested on humans to manufacture the implants but insisted they posed no threat to health.
Laurent Gaudon, a lawyer with a French implant victims’ association, said of the remarks: ‘This displays the shocking greed and cynicism of Jean-Claude Mas.’
source
The Daily Mail
Robbie Savage has gone all haute couture on us; posing nude with a sultry expression against the backdrop of a stark room with shards of light filtering through the window to illuminate his locks.
But before you guffaw at Goldilocks, the Strictly Come Dancing star has stripped off not solely for the ladies or an ego boost – but in honour of Everyman’s testicular cancer campaign.
The football legend, who stripped to his birthday suit as the naked centrefold for Cosmopolitan, revealed he feels nude without his fake tan on now his time on the BBC show has come to an end.
Savage has just finished taking part in the ninth series of Strictly, where he sizzled onscreen with a natural flair and chemistry with partner Ola Jordan.
As the series progressed, both dancers seemed to turn a deeper shade of orange as they heaped on the fake tan along with their sequins and stage costumes.
However, despite their popularity, it was McFly drummer Harry Judd and professional dancer Aliona Vilani who were crowned champions.
Robbie said: ‘When I was playing football, I felt naked without my boots on. Now, doing Strictly Come Dancing, I feel naked without fake tan!’
Thankfully Robbie will get another chance to lather on a layer of crimson skin as she joins the Strictly tour from January 20 to February 26.
The father-of-two also said the disease is close to his heart after friend and former Celtic footballer John Hartson was diagnosed.
He said: ‘Everyman’s testicular cancer campaign is close to my heart. My friend John Hartson found a lump, but put off seeing a doctor for three years – it nearly cost him his life.’
In July 2009, Hartson, 36, received chemotherapy after being diagnosed with testicular cancer which had spread to his brain.
It was later reported the cancer had spread to his lungs and that he remained in a ‘critical condition’ following emergency surgery.
However, the treatment was successful and by December of that year it was reported that Harston’s cancer had been virtually eradicated.
Despite his affections for being Tango-ed, one show Robbie certainly isn’t ready to take part in yet, is Dancing On Ice.
By NADIA MENDOZA
Mail online
The breast implant health scare has taken a further twist with a claim the French company at the heart of the scandal also made implants for male patients.
Two former employees of Poly Implant Prothese said the firm manufactured testicle, buttock and chest implants, mainly destined for export, Le Parisien reported on Thursday.
“Three people were specially trained to work on the machine that made silicone testicles,” a former PIP worker told the newspaper.
A second said: “It was an injection machine that had clearly cost a lot of money. It was bought in with the purpose of entering into different areas of the [implant] market.
“It was used during the last few years in the company. Most of what was produced was sent abroad.”
The testicle implants were destined to be used for reconstruction in patients who had lost a testicle through cancer or amputation or had been born with only one.
The newspaper said it was not clear if silicone used in the testicle implants was sub-standard. But one of the former employees said the gel used in the buttock and chest implants, aimed at male patients, was the same as the industrial quality material used in the breast implants that, it is claimed, have a high risk of rupturing.
“For aesthetic reasons some of our clients, especially those in South America, ordered them and in that case the gel used to make them was the suspect gel that did not conform [to health standards] that was already used in the breast implants. It might cause health problems in certain patients,” said the ex-PIP worker. He said false pectorals were aimed at men who felt they were “not very well-built”.
In a separate report, leading French cancer treatment centres including the respected Marie Curie Institute were said to have been seduced by the low price of PIP breast implants for use in reconstructive surgery after mastectomies.
Le Figaro claimed 16 of the country’s 18 leading cancer institutes used the PIP implants up to 2010. A plastic surgeon told the newspaper that hospital authorities in Paris preferred to keep the number of suppliers of medical devices to a minimum.
“For many years PIP was kept on as supplier to the three public cancer treatment centres in Paris and the banlieue,” he said, adding that PIP prosthetics were also used “in surgery lessons or in demonstrations at conferences”.
The French health agency AFSSAPS said: “In France the company did not declare anything other than the production of breast implants. But we are only aware of what was produced on national soil.”
Yves Haddad, lawyer for Jean-Claude Mas, the founder and former head of PIP, said his client would not be making any comment over the latest allegations.
Mas’s son, Nicolas Lucciardi, admitted the company had acted fraudulently but said the French government should not have ordered the 30,000 women in France fitted with PIP implants to have them removed.
“Everyone is jumping on us. We admit there was a fraud when PIP didn’t declare the type of gel used in the fabrication of its implants,” he said, adding that the company had “ceased all activity” in the field.
He described the French government’s action as aberrant. “The minister gave in to the call of the public opinion sirens,” he said. “Nobody has proved they cause cancer.”
An investigation has been launched in France into charges of “manslaughter and unintentional injury” against PIP, which supplied 65 countries and was once the world’s third largest manufacturer of breast implants.
On Wednesday local judge Annaïck Le Goff visited the former PIP headquarters at La Seyne-sur-Mer in the Var in Provence, south-east France, and left with an armful of files.
A parallel investigation has been opened into “aggravated deception”.
So far 2,400 French women given PIP implants have lodged legal complaints.
Unravelling the genetic secrets behind a range of cancers – from understanding how certain genes control cancer to determining how the disease evades treatment – is the aim of a new initiative from Cancer Research UK.
The Genomics Initiative will use the latest high-tech gene sequencing machines to address specific research questions that until now were impossible to answer.
The latest sequencing technology allows researchers to scan all of the genes in a cancer – like reading an instruction manual for the disease – and identify each of the cancer causing faults a million times faster than the Human Genome Project ten years ago.
The genes involved in cancer not only cause the disease but also drive its changes between different forms, influence how aggressive it is and whether certain treatments will work.
Armed with this knowledge, the researchers will be able to piece together information that will tell them about people at greater risk of cancer, pick the right treatments for the disease and start developing new drugs.
The Genomics Initiative is being funded by Cancer Research UK’s Catalyst Club – a pioneering venture to raise £10 million for various research projects, including the Genomics Initiative, on personalised medicine for people with cancer.
One of the projects will look at rare types of skin cancer. The study, led by Professor Richard Marais at The Institute of Cancer Research, will look for the genes that make certain types of skin cancer more aggressive with the ultimate aim of improving treatments for patients with these rare forms of the disease.
Professor Marais said: “We urgently need new drugs to treat these rare but very aggressive forms of skin cancer. This project will let us build a bigger picture of the genes that are involved in the disease giving us an insight into the inner workings of skin cancer.”
Another project will attempt to understand why kidney cancer has unique genetic defects in different parts of the same tumour. This can result in a tumour biopsy not giving the full picture of what is going on in the cancer. Professor Charles Swanton, at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute, is trying to understand why this happens and hopes to find new markers that predict who will benefit from targeted treatments.
Professor Swanton said: “Attempts to identify markers to predict if patients with kidney cancer will respond to distinct targeted drugs have so far been unsuccessful. Our research is investigating whether this may result from the genetic variation within single tumours, such that an oncologist may not be able to fully trust the genomic information present in a single biopsy. We hope to be able to find markers for drug resistance that are common across multiple biopsies in the same tumour, that may guide the treating clinician to determine the right treatments are given to each patient.”
The other seven projects are:
• Finding genes that put people at a higher risk of developing pre-cancerous growths called polyps and bowel cancer
• How follicular lymphoma transforms into the more aggressive B cell lymphoma
• Sequencing the genes in an aggressive form of childhood brain cancer
• Looking for the genes that affect how pancreatic cancer patients respond to treatment
• Identifying key genes in skin cancer in people with no family history
• Studying 1,000 women to find new genes linked to breast cancer
• Understanding how stem cells in leukaemia pick up new genetic faults
Dr Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “We’re delighted to launch the Genomics Initiative, which takes advantage of powerful new technologies to drive an exciting area of cancer research. We know that mistakes in genes are behind cancer, and they also drive how cancer act and respond to treatment. Understanding this better will bring real benefits for patients in the future, playing an essential role in the push towards personalised cancer treatment.”
Gary Ablett, the only man to win the FA Cup with Liverpool in 1989 and Everton in 1995, has died following a long battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer. He was just 46.
The Liverpool-born defender died on New Year’s Day having been diagnosed with the illness in the summer of 2010 while working as an assistant to Roy Keane at Ipswich Town. Among the many to pay tribute to Ablett was Michael Owen, who wrote on Twitter: “So sad to hear the news that Gary Ablett has passed away today aged 46. He played for some great clubs and had a career to be proud of. RIP”. The Labour MP and Everton fan, Andy Burnham, also wrote: “So sad to hear about Gary Ablett. Achieved rare feat of playing for, and being loved by, both clubs. A measure of the man he was. RIP.”
Ablett, who also played for Birmingham City, Blackpool and had a short spell in America, won two league titles and the 1989 FA Cup for Liverpool in an Anfield career spanning 147 games. He joined the club as an apprentice in 1983 and was handed his first-team debut by Kenny Dalglish three years later, initially establishing himself at left-back in the 1987-88 title-winning campaign before featuring more regularly at centre-half and winning the league once more in 1989-90.
The Liverpool manager said today: “The most important thing just now is to pay our respects to Gary, his wife Jacqueline, the two boys and his wee girl. It’s a sad, sad day for his family and everyone connected with Liverpool Football Club. Obviously he had a long battle and I’m sure it was a lot of suffering and a lot of pain for him, but the only thing you can say is at least he won’t be suffering any longer.
“I gave Gary his debut and remember him scoring on his first start at Anfield against Nottingham Forest. He was a really good servant to the football club not only as a player, but also as reserve-team coach. He served the club proudly and credibly. It’s very sad for everybody.”
Under Dalglish’s replacement as Liverpool manager, Graeme Souness, Ablett lost his first-team place and was sold across Stanley Park to Everton for £750,000 in 1992. He went on to make 156 appearances for the Goodison Park club and secured a unique place in Merseyside football history in 1995 when Joe Royle’s team beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final to give Ablett his second winner’s medal in the competition. He was also part of the Liverpool team that lost the 1988 FA Cup final to Wimbledon.
Ablett went on to make over 100 appearances for Birmingham, whom he joined for £400,000, before ending his playing career in 2001 after a brief spell with Long Island Rough Riders. He then returned to Everton to take up a coaching role with the club’s youth teams, where he enjoyed great success for four years before being offered the position of reserve- team manager with Liverpool. He guided Liverpool’s reserves to the Premier Reserve League north title in his second season in charge and took his first senior management job at Stockport County in 2009 with the club in administration throughout his only season in charge.
Following relegation from League One with Stockport, Ablett was offered a coaching role at Ipswich by the then manager Keane but was diagnosed with the disease shortly after his arrival in July 2010. He appeared at Everton’s end-of-season awards dinner in May last year and fronted the club’s cancer awareness campaign in September.
David Moyes, the Everton manager and a friend of Ablett’s, said: “It is so, so sad about Gary. He was a regular visitor here to Finch Farm over the last six months and he was a lovely man, well liked by everyone. My thoughts are with all his family at this terrible time.”
In October Ablett spoke of his shock at being diagnosed with the disease. “Jacqueline took one look at me and took me straight to the doctors,” he said in an interview with Everton’s website to support Blue September, a campaign to raise awareness of forms of cancer specifically affecting men.
“The following day they whisked me to Ipswich hospital and the sister asked us if we knew why we were there. We said ‘for tests’ but she told us they had found a really aggressive lymphoma and that without immediate treatment I’d be in serious trouble.
“From diagnosis to that first session of chemotherapy was less than three days, so it was a massive shock.”
Birmingham have announced there will be a minute’s silence observed before their Championship game at Peterborough today, and prior to their FA Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers at St Andrew’s on Saturday, while Ipswich players will wear black armbands for the visit of Nottingham Forest this afternoon.
The Ipswich chief executive Simon Clegg said: “It’s desperately sad news. I stayed in touch with Gary as he battled his illness over 18 months, which he did with bravery and dignity and our thoughts go out to his wife Jacqueline and their children at this very difficult time.”
What a twelve months it’s been for us. It started off with good news from Dr Simmonds, my blood tests and X-rays came back clear.
Work started in the back garden on ‘The Carltoncabana’, my bar. What a brilliant place, then came the hot tub.
Enjoying the garden this summer was awesome. We had a few parties with friends and family.
February took us to Sandown for the Artillery cup with the Family Dridge, the Family Donaldson, the Family Lewis and from Northern Ireland the Family Honeyman. A brilliant day out. I think I got pissed before we left Emsworth at 10am.
Charity golf was next for my charity Kick It Into Touch. We raised nearly £7000 with £3600 profit for cancer charities.
Next up was Army vs Navy at Twickenham, same lot again who went to Sandown. That was a messy day.
We sold our house which we rented out, it was a massive ball and chain round our necks.
Then the football season started and we were all back together at Fratton Park. Nothing could prepare us for the news over the next few weeks.
It started off with our friend Mark Dridge. He ended up in hospital with stomach problems, real bad. The results seemed to take forever to come through with everybody fearing the worst. Good news for Mark in the end plus he got himself back into work, manager at a hotel in Lyme Regis.
A few weeks later, Phil, Marks dad got told news nobody wants to hear. It’s too personal and I can’t talk about it anymore.
We are all thinking about you Phil, Lynne and the whole of the family. I am so happy to call you all my friends!!!
The following week I went to see Dr Simmonds for my routine checkup. It was just over a year from when I was diagnosed testicular cancer. I had a CT Scan in September and was getting the results from this.
I was waiting for what seemed like an eternity. This was the one and only appointment I’ve been to on my own, Angie had to work and couldn’t make it. I knew I was heading into the lions den and was going to be told bad news.
He congratulated me on being all clear from testicular cancer which for a short time was a relief. Next sentence was that they’ve found something in my stomach but don’t really know much about what it was.
It was bastard cancer AGAIN!!!
That’s some luck, two different cancers in the space of a year!!! WHY
The next few weeks was in and out of hospitals. Finishing with nice open surgery to remove a fucking massive tumour from my stomach.
I even ended up in The News winning a We Can Do It tshirt for my charity fundraising.
The year ended with one last trip to the hospital to see the Dr.
It was the best news and Christmas present anyone could wish for.
That’s the review of the year over with.
Thanks to Angie, my family and friends for your support over the last year. I don’t think I could have done it without you!!!
HAVE A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2012!!!
Hello I’m back!!! It’s been three weeks since I last updated this blog. Only because there has not been much going on, except sitting on the sofa every day because I can’t do anything.
I had an appointment with the surgical team today at 2:15 at the QA Hospital.
We couldn’t sleep at all last night, I think It was around 0400 when we finally dropped off.
Next thing I know Angie was shouting up the stairs to me telling me to get up. It was 0840.
We drove to Cosham at 0950 to see the nurse at the surgery who’s happy for me not to go back to see them unless I’m in discomfort.
Me and Angie got to the hospital at 1405 and waited in the waiting room. About 10 minutes later Dr Nick Carter flew through the waiting room and asked what room he had to go to. I heard this and the thought went through my head, why does it need two doctors to speak to me because reception had already told me that I would be seeing Dr Toh. Straight away I feared the worst.
We got called in by Dr Toh and sat down. He went on to tell us that they are happy that they removed the whole tumour. And that it looks like it hasn’t spread anywhere else. I would be under the care of Dr Peter Simmonds, who is also looking after me for the testicular cancer. At least it is someone that i know.
The tumour measured 50mmX30mmX40mm and was cancerous. They measure the cancer on a scale of 0-20. If its between 0-5 its virtually cancer free and if its a 20, it will be completely cancerous. They rated mine a 10.
He went on to say that I will be put on a course of tablets called GLIVEC. This is a relatively new drug that got Dr Toh excited. He said that tests in France have proven really positive.
I’ll be going back on Feb 6th to see Dr Simmonds. Then It looks like every two months to see him or Dr Toh.
On the way out we dropped in to see Dr Nick Carter. First words out of his mouth were “You look better than the last time, what with Movember going on”
He wished us well and a Happy Christmas.
Today the Mo came off. I feel clean and tidy, there’s no way I could have that on my face full time!!!
Although we did raise over £150.00.
mobro.co/johnwillis
Thanks again for your support!!!
Last day of Movember, we’ve raised around £150.00 for prostate cancer research. Many thanks for your support and donations. Can’t wait till midnight!!! I can get this thing shaved off.
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