News from your local Prostate Cancer Support Group
The speaker at the recent North Hampshire Prostate Cancer Support Group monthly meeting was Fiona Labrooy from Heartburn Cancer UK, a national charity based here in Basingstoke. It was founded in 2003 by Mimi McCord after her husband passed away only 9 weeks after diagnosis.
Their mission is to inform and give hope to sufferers of persistent heartburn and acid reflux, Oesophageal cancer, and Barretts disease. Their aim is to give more hope for Oesophageal cancer survivors; working together to keep more people alive; and raising awareness with people that persistent heartburn can be dangerous.
The condition is caused when the sphincter valve at the top of the stomach fails and allows acidic stomach contents to escape back up the Oesophagus. This manifests as Acid Reflux or GORD (Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disease) which can progress to Barrett’s disease (pre-cancerous) and eventually to Oesophageal cancer. It maybe hereditary (yet to be proven) and can affect men and women at any age.
The symptoms are often ignored for far too long with people self medicating with Rennies, Gaviscon etc. so they don’t go to their GP until it is too late. If your symptoms persist for more than 3 weeks you must seek medical advice.
Oesophageal cancer kills 8000 people each year in the UK. It’s the 7th most common cancer in the UK and the 4th in men. Once diagnosed the 5 year survival rate is low at 15%. By contrast prostate cancer is now the biggest form of cancer in the UK.
Historically diagnosis required an endoscopy, but Heartburn Cancer is championing the encapsulated sponge test. A simple expanding sponge inside a pill the size of a vitamin capsule. The sponge is attached to a thread so that 10 minutes after being swallowed with water (when the capsule has dissolved) it can be gently retrieved collecting cells from the oesophageal wall which is then sent away for analysis. Health Scotland have already adopted this for diagnosis and the charity is pushing for NHS England to do likewise. It has been demonstrated as a useful initial triage tool, and can be used as a surveillance tool for those with Barretts, and could be a useful screening test.
The charity was awarded the prestigious “Small Charity Big Achievers” award in September. They have a modern web site (https://heartburncanceruk.org/) and are developing a smartphone app to increase awareness and help patients monitor symptoms.
February was Oesophageal Awareness Month, with the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth being illuminated in red and gold, along with a poster campaign to increase awareness carrying the message “is it really only heartburn”.
The charity website contains the videos shown by Fiona during her presentation at https://heartburncanceruk.org/latest-updates/our-videos/
For more information
Email: info@nhpcsg.org.uk
Call or text 07377 430242
www.nhpcsg.org.uk