Cancer patients have already canceled treatment

We’re already scared in just a few days of the second Covid blockade.

I am afraid of the lives of cancer patients like me.

Four

During the first blockade, and so far, I’m really lucky to be able to continue my usual treatment.

However, it is flooded with messages from people whose screening, follow-up, and treatment have been cancelled.

For tens of thousands of cancer patients, this isn’t just Covid. I am suffering from the last event.

I have a friend who didn’t survive the first blockade.

I have a friend who is currently facing an uncertain future because treatment was delayed during the first peak.

Then there are tens of thousands of people who postpone going to see their GP.

Some of them will live with late-stage cancers that could have been avoided if they had been previously detected.

Thousands of people who are diagnosed with cancer too late can remain

Deborah James

During the initial blockade, cancer referrals decreased by 75% year-on-year in just one month.

I know this time it will only last for 4 weeks, but I’m worried that the same thing will happen again.

What if people postpone going to see their GP, thinking that lumps and changes in toilet habits can wait for weeks?

Thousands of people who are diagnosed with cancer too late can remain.

Thousands more cancer deaths were seen because people did not receive the treatment they needed when they needed it.

The battle may have already been lost

Four

One of the recent estimates from the charity McMillan is that as a result of Covid, cancer alone could result in an additional 50,000 deaths this year.

And that was before Lockdown 2.0.

I saw and heard Boris Johnson and Sir Simon Stevens urging people to stay home to protect the NHS.

They vowed that a blockade would be needed this time because they need to make sure that other non-Covid services can continue throughout the winter.

Every year, the NHS almost collapses under the weight of winter pressure. Even if you don’t deal with Covid’s nightmare.

So, in a way, I understand it. We understand that we must do something to ensure that medical services can handle the outbreak of Covid infections again.

I hope politicians and experts are right. This four-week blockade will relieve pressure and prevent the NHS from collapsing.

But the messages I have already received from people in the cancer community suggest that the fight may have already been lost.

Surgery has already been postponed, general practitioner appointments are online only, and regular examinations have been postponed.

It all feels terribly familiar, as the NHS is creeping into a situation where all it can do is take care of Covid patients.

Covid is not the only tragedy

Four

There are many questions, but the answers are not easy.

But certainly, we need to see future blockades block important cancer services.

If we could build seven Nightingale hospitals out of nowhere in the face of the Covid threat, could we mobilize the same efforts to combat cancer?

According to Cancer Research UK, cancer kills about 450 people every day. That’s 165,000 people a year.

All deaths by Covid are too many, it’s another grieving family.

But keep in mind that it is not the only tragedy.

As a cancer patient, all I want to see and feel is that the illnesses that kill me too soon are given the same attention as Covid.

Where are the emergency meetings, press conferences and task forces?

Living at home makes life even more difficult

Four

For now, cancer patients feel forgotten-he was told to effectively shield again while waiting for the second wave to subside.

I don’t have a gift of time, every day I’m still alive is a bonus.

Like many incurable cancer patients, I live on a rented time, so it feels even more difficult to be trapped in my house and unable to live my life.

For me, Covid is neither the greatest threat I face nor the most dangerous I face.

For me, cancer treatment overturns the Covid threat.

We hope that this four-week blockade will be as designed. We also hope that the NHS will be given the necessary grace.

We hope we are not in a bad situation when we come out on the other side.

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