David and Jonathan Dimbleby will be hosting a fabulous evening aboard the Silver Sturgeon on the River Thames. With dinner by Jamie Oliver and his team at Fabulous Feasts, the highlight of the evening will be an interview with special guest Joanna Lumley on her life and times before she takes questions from the floor.  As one of the funniest and most loved performers in the land, the evening promises to be a real delight.

All money raised through the live auction, raffle and pledges on the night will support the joint Dimbleby Marie Curie Cancer Care palliative care research fund. This 2 year project has pledged £1,000,000 for research into aspects of care – the needs of carers and those they look after.  Last year, a similar event at Merchant Taylor’s Hall raised in excess of £50,000 towards the fund, and we hope that this year’s event will be an even greater success.

Tickets start at £180 per person.  All enquiries, including sponsorship and patron packages, please contact:

Special Events Department, Marie Curie Cancer Care, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP – 020 7599 7219

- Almost half of the carers reported they experienced mental health problems such as stress, anxiety and depression
- One in eight (13%) said they experienced physical health problems such as sleep and digestive problems
- One in seven (15%) reported financial issues such as spending more on things like travel to hospital or giving up work
- Carers of people with cancer provide an average of around 15 hours of help each week
- In the main, they offer emotional support, with around half helping with errands outside the house
- 20% saying their caring role affects their relationships
- 19% said it affected their working life
- 15% said it had an impact on their finances

Benefits advice is a key part of the service offered by Dimbleby Cancer Care Support and Information Services at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. The post of Benefits Advisor at the Dimbleby Cancer Care centre was first introduced on the advice of Professor Sheila Payne. The recent Welfare Benefit Annual Report for 2011 from Southwark Citizens Advice Bureau showed a record number of financial gains for cancer patients and their carers, despite the challenges faced by increased demand at the centre.

£559,376.34
Fiona Crowe recently took over the post of Benefits Advisor at the Dimbleby Cancer Care centre, having previously worked as a Macmillan advisor. In 2011, a staggering £559,376.34 was obtained in benefits for cancer patients following advice at the centre. Advice was given in over 1,100 cases with 164 face to face consultations.

In one case, a single parent with advanced terminal cancer was found to be supporting her family of 3 children on £125 per week. She often went without food herself and was running up debts including bailiff action. Through discussion with the DCC funded Benefits Advisor she was able to secure increased payments of £330 per week through previously unclaimed benefits and received a backdated payment of £8000 which enabled her to clear her debts and help secure a future for her family.

The service offered at Guy’s and St Thomas’ is an essential part of the integrated cancer treatment service offered by the Hospital trust. For similar advice in other areas, Macmillan advises contacting your local authority through the Citizens Advice Bureau.

This kind of support and advice is crucial in helping those affected by cancer, improving quality of life for both patients and their carers.

Professor Tony Ng and David Dimbleby

Soon after the Dimbleby Cancer Care charity was established in 1967, one of the first acts was to endow the Richard Dimbleby Chair of Cancer Research at Kings College London. The third and current incumbent is Professor Tony Ng, who uses tissue imaging techniques to identify which drug treatments are the most effective for each individual patient and in 2010 a £17,000 fundraising donation by the late Marianne Blake enabled the setting up of a pioneering genome library.

Last week David Dimbleby received an Honarary Fellowship at a ceremony held at the Barbican in London, in recognition of the ground breaking research into cancer treatment that the Dimbleby support has made possible through the work of the laboratory.

Dimbleby Cancer Care are incredibly proud of the work of Tony and his team and of the continued relationship with Kings College London over 40 years since the Richard Dimbleby Chair of Cancer Research was first established.

The Bupa London 10,000 is presented by the London Marathon and is run on the course that will be used for the 2012 Olympic Marathons. The 2012 race will be held on Sunday 27th May, starting at 11am. It’s a great opportunity to take part in a major event in London during the Olympic year.

Online entry is now closed so the only way you can take part is by applying for a charity place. We have 3 places up for grabs. To take part all you need to do commit to raising £500 for us.

To apply for one of our places – or as a team of 3 – please email robin.pritchard@dimblebycancercare.org with you name, age, contact number and email address.

This time two years ago, when London was covered in ice and snow, Marianne was out training in preparation for the 2010 London Marathon. Despite also having cancer in her brain and liver, she completed the Marathon in 4 hours 24 minutes and in doing so, raised £17,000 for a much-needed genome library for the Dimbleby Laboratories. Purely as a result of Marianne’s determination and generosity, the lab was able to carry out an ambitious imaging-based experiment (ongoing) and thus considerably expand its work on finding and understanding the appropriate treatment (particularly in the context of drugs like HERCEPTIN) for each individual cancer patient.

Readers wishing to learn more about this amazing woman can read the beautiful tribute to her from Richard Blake by following the following link:

www.justgiving.com/Marianne-Blake

We have taken 3 places in the Bupa London 10,000 2012, a 10k run that will take in part of the planned Olympic marathon route. The places are free, you just need to raise a minimum of £500 for us.

It promises to be a fantastic event. More details are available at www.london10000.co.uk

If you would like to take up this opportunity to run for Dimbleby Cancer Care in one of next year’s exciting Olympic linked events then please contact Robin in the Fundraising office on robin.pritchard@dimblebycancercare.org

Even when my oncologist told me to cancel the two holidays I’d booked for my summer off, I didn’t grasp that the routines and schedules making up my life were to disappear. On the day of my initial diagnosis I was four weeks into my sabbatical, in which I’d be enjoying four months travelling through Europe with my partner – and then October through to the summer as a full-time Master’s student. The plan thereafter was to go to Latin America – where we’d met five years before – him, to teach, me to extend my journalism career on my favourite continent, maybe staying for two years.

Of course, it’s true what they say about best laid plans: I had left my job as editor of a financial magazine, telling everybody in a blaze of glory that I was dumping the daily grind for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Then, eight weeks to the day after I put my last issue to press, I was signing in at the chemotherapy day ward for my first session of ABVD, mother and boyfriend in tow.

It was only then that I was told I was stage three: rather than the 2-4 months of chemo and radiotherapy I had originally been pitched, I would need six full months of chemo.

This was a problem for my scheduling. Four months would have only touched the start of my course. But six months took out the rest of the year. The biggest issue I had with cancer’s way of interrupting my masterplan was that it put a question mark over my university place. On my first day in the ward, I asked my oncologist if he thought it realistic that I could enrol and have chemo at the same time. He reminded me that often people continued working. As I breathed a sigh of relief, Liz, the Macmillan nurse present, sucked air through her teeth. “It’s not always like that,” she said. “I think it might be unrealistic.”

I was surprised how two very different views could come from people working so closely with cancer: which one was right? I signed up to the web forums and asked if anyone had successfully gone through university while on chemo. But no clear answer came. I soon realised that I’d be starting my course halfway through the treatment; I’d been warned that this was the point where ‘chemo brain’ would set in and the cumulative effect of ABVD would start to grip me. Did I want to plough on with my schedule, accepting that I might not be well enough to do my best? Or be more pragmatic, accept my fate, and defer for one year.

Come September I deferred.

I was gutted. I’d been so happy when I resigned. I’d told the world and his wife about my plans. I’d already put time into becoming part of the university community: those people would forget me and that time would mean nothing. Without something big to look forward to, cancer was now my only focus.

A friend recommended me for a freelance job and I accepted: I shouldn’t have. The time it demanded ended up being disastrous. Deadlines are king and journalists are paid to hit them, however much they move: whenever something came in with a 24-hour turnaround, the email would hit my inbox as I sat in the chemo ward with another infection, waiting for another blood test in-between chemo appointments. It was too much and I had to bail out. I bitterly turned down work in order to focus on my health, not my career. But in time I started to enjoy the freedom. Ironically, I did get the time off that I’d hoped leaving my job would give me. And I used it to look after myself much more than I otherwise would.

As summer came, I found it so relaxing to wake up, open the kitchen doors to our garden, have breakfast, check a few emails and while away the day without an agenda. With my immune system weakened, I didn’t feel confident leaving my little part of town, but friends came to visit or stay over.

By the end of the summer I realised a schedule had evolved out of my new lifestyle. After my fortnightly chemo, the next 5 days were given over to recovery, with all the worst effects colliding at once. But by Wednesday I started to feel well and by the weekend I was back on my feet. Once I realised that I had every other week to feel close to normal, I planned things so I had something to look forward to in my ‘off’ week.

A new addition to that schedule has been the Dimbleby Cancer Centre, where I have massage and counselling. As my body struggles against the effects of my treatment, I really look forward to a gentle massage which takes the pressure off a little. My last appointment at Guy’s was just hours after hearing that my grandma had passed away, succumbing to ovarian cancer. Deciding whether I was well enough to go to Glasgow for the funeral, it was invaluable to have that massage which helped me to calm down, think things through and decide to get on the next train. And having much less money coming in now, the fact that the services DCC offers are free really helps.

As I reach the last few treatments, having that week to look forward to and do something of value – not just sit around waiting – is really important. Cancer has not been the diary-obliterating hell I imagined. I have time to think, to take a walk, to cook – and to read up for my course. I can look forward to starting my Master’s next October and getting on with my life – a long way from the day when my oncologist, trying to lighten the mood when he told me to cancel those holidays, quipped: “you’re mine now”.

We are very pleased today to bring you the first edition of our brand new newsletter, DCC Times – Edition 1 Dec 2011

Inside you will find all the latest news on what Dimbleby Cancer Care has been up to recently – everything from Twitter and Fundraising news, to a very personal piece written by journalist Melanie Stern. There is also details of how you can get involved in the Bupa London 10,000 2012 and raise money for us.

Let us know what you think and if you would like to be added to our mailing list to receive a paper copy, please do let us know. We would also love to hear any of your suggestions for the next edition, especially if you would like to contribute yourself.

Guys and St. Thomas ‘ are already two of the best hospitals in the country – but over the next ten years they are investing in a series of building projects that will create better hospitals providing better care.

The new Cancer Centre at Guy’s is part of the 2020 vision – creating the best possible environment for patients, visitors and staff. It will allow the provision of cancer services in state-of-the-art facilities – and you can help.

Dimbleby Cancer Care have been working closely with the planning group comprising both patient and clinical representatives on the detail of the designs for the new centre with the team of appointed architects.

An exhibition of design drawings and images will be on display during December 2011 on both hospital sites and in the local area at the venues and dates listed below. Hospital staff will be on hand to answer questions and there will be a feedback form. The exhibition can be viewed as follows:

Thursday 8th – Sunday 11th December – 9.00am – 6.00pm in Atrium 1, Guy’s Hospital, Great Maze Pond SE1 9RT

Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th December – 9.00am – 5.00pm at Southwark Council, 160 Tooley Street, SE1 2QH

Thursday 15^th and Friday 16th December – 9.00am – 6.00pm in Central Hall, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7EH

You don’t need to have used the cancer or other services to comment – they want to hear views from the local community as well as staff and patients.

Your views are important and we hope that you will find the time to visit us at the exhibition.

If you aren’t able to visit the exhibition, the designs will be available for comment on the GSTT website from Thursday 8^th December 2011.

First off we have a brand new campaign of information posters ready to be launched. They give really basic information about what we do, where we are and how you can contact us to find out more or make a donation. These should hopefully start to appear around Guy’s and St Thomas’ and the local area in the next 2 weeks so keep your eye out for them. They feature our therapists from the Cancer Care centres and we think they are really eye catching.

Secondly we are busy working on the first edition of a new DCC quarterly newsletter. This is a brand new venture for us and a way of telling more about the work we are doing and the people that are fundraising for us.  The first edition has pieces on our Research fund and a feature article from a journalist who has experienced first hand the therapy and treatments available through Dimbleby Cancer Care since her diagnosis earlier this year. We can’t wait for you see it and also to hear your ideas and contributions for future issues. The newsletter will be available in our centres and also in electronic format if you sign up to our mailing list. We hope to have the first edition out in time for Christmas.

And thirdly we are in full-on planning mode now with Marie Curie for our 2nd annual joint fundraiser in spring 2012. Full details will be released in due course, but we have secured a great line-up for the evening event and our hoping to build on the success of last year’s dinner.

So lots to keep us busy!

To keep bang up to date with what’s going on follow us on twitter @DimblebyCancerC