World Cancer Day

Apologies this post was originally meant to be posted on the evening of world cancer day, but in true Brown family style we spent that evening in a&e with Lonnie! He is okay now, just unfortunately still suffering some of the side effects from his chemotherapy treatment.


You may have noticed (but could be forgiven if you haven't!) that today is world cancer day. A day that is designed to raise general knowledge and dispel many misconceptions that people have around this disease.
Most of the major news networks are covering the story with the headline: "Half of Brits don't realise a good diet could protect them against cancer and instead blame the disease on a throw of the dice". I think this is a scary headline considering that currently 1 in 2 people will develop some form of cancer in their life time.
Obviously not all cancers are preventable and many, particularly childhood cancers are still very much misunderstood by the medical profession as well as the general public particularly in relation to what causes them. But surely when 89,000 cases could be prevented a year in the UK alone by people maintaining a healthy weight and generally looking after themselves we should be listening?


Cancer is clearly becoming a huge problem for us all with everyone knowing someone who has been affected by it. In 2012 alone there were globally 8.2 million deaths from the disease, and 14.1 million people were living with.
It has now been predicted that this number will continue to rise by around 75% over the next two decades meaning in 20 years there will be around 25 million people fighting cancer. Sadly even with big advances in research so many cancers (particularly childhood cancers) are still very underfunded with less than 2% of Cancer Research UK's income being spent on researching them. (You could be forgiven for thinking it was more by the number of "cancer children" that are used in their advertising...)


Despite all of this many of us still don't like to talk about cancer and it is still very much considered a taboo subject by many. It is still thought of as something that people fear and is very misunderstood with many people not knowing the real implications that it has on you, not only physically but also emotionally, financially and practically. As a family we really hope that none of you reading this will ever experience the devastating effects that this disease can have on you and would really urge you to follow the advice out today to lead a healthier lifestyle to try and reduce your risk of developing it.


We would also like to take the opportunity on World Cancer Day to re share some tips that we came up with alongside other oncology parents of the things that cancer parents get most annoyed with. It's our "we really wish people wouldn't" list, please don't think we are posting it to be rude, just to raise awareness!

We wish people wouldn't:
- click "like" on facebook when an announcement of our child's worsening condition is made.

- say "I know how you feel". No one can ever know how someone else feels, you may know what it is like to have someone fighting cancer, but every person, family and situation is unique with it's own set of circumstances.

- say "You can always have more kids". While this maybe true, it is completely beside the point!

- say "You just need to have faith". Everyone goes through periods where their faith in God (if they have one) waivers. Families do not need to hear anything that suggests that if they only trusted a little bit more their child would be fine.

- say "Well it's for the best as everything happens for a reason". A parent will never think that their child fighting cancer is for the best.

- say "Everything will be okay". You do not know that, and people who are hurting do not want to hear it!

- quote the entire Bible. All of the people who helped compile this list agree that one small, well timed Bible verse can speak volumes. Quoting the entire book of Job just causes irritation and will not be read.

- offer medical advice you found on the internet. Families do not need or want to hear your words of medical wisdom, especially when you aren't a trained oncologist.

- forget we exist. Parents of cancer patients are real human beings as well who have feelings, too often people just talk about the child and forget they exist.

- bombard us with questions. Enough of a parents time and energy is spent consumed thinking about cancer without people forcing you to think about it more. Yes we love to talk about our brave children and are unbelievably proud of how brave they are but sometimes we'd rather just stay quiet.


***For anyone looking for a Josh & Lonnie update, they have a number of appointments coming up so we will update you all within the next two weeks of how they have gone.***