This October, will you help support the 20% of patients at Clatterbridge diagnosed with Breast Cancer?
Can you help support the 20% of patients at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre diagnosed with Breast Cancer this Breast Cancer Awareness Month?
The scale of the challenge to treat these patients was not well understood until Clatterbridge consultant, Professor Carlo Palmieri, undertook a study to determine exactly how many women and men were living with the disease in England.
The answer was much higher than anticipated – with an estimated 57,000 people in England alone being treated for secondary breast cancer. Secondary cancers in the brain cause a particular challenge for medical staff to treat. Patients with brain metastases are often only aware of them when the disease is quite advanced, causing symptoms such as seizures, headaches and changes in motor function – this detection at advanced stage leads all too often to a devastating prognosis.
Research into Breast Cancer that has spread to the brain is difficult and has been underfunded – this has led to a relative lack of scientific research in this area. Utilising funding from Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, Professor Palmieri and his team aim to provide hope, by working with collaborators at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London to begin research which will help doctors to understand which patients are at highest risk of developing brain metastases.
Effective monitoring and earlier detection lie at the heart of this research. All of which would lead to much improved outcomes for those 60,000 people living with this aggressive form of breast cancer in the UK.
We are asking our incredible supporters to fundraise their own way this October. Whether that’s hosting a bake sale, or shaving your head, your support makes a real difference to the lives of people with cancer in our communities.
