Thursday, 31 May

Oxfordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group

Newsletter May 2018

NEXT GROUP MEETING, MONDAY 11 JUNE

Yun Wang, Prostate Brachytherapy ANP/ Radiotherapy Specialist Nurse from the radiotherapy department, Churchill Hospital, will talk on brachytherapy, a treatment about which we have heard little up to now.   As always, 6.30 for 7.00 p.m. at Oxford Golf Club, Hill Top Road.

RIVER CRUISE SUNDAY 24 JUNE

Booking has been heavy, but there are still places left on the cruise, 2.30 p.m. from Donnington Bridge on Sunday 24 June.  Jazz and cream tea.  Please contact Dave Hawes to book and pay (£15 per person) – davehawes@btinternet.com, 01491 826884 / 07773 508024.   Cheques to be made payable to “Oxfordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group”, abbreviations are not accepted by the bank.

Payment to be sent to :-  Mr D Hawes, 7 Meadow Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Oxon, OX10 8BH

Or In person at the next group meeting on the 11th June. 

Or on the day of the cruise (if cash, the correct money please).

Maps of the Donnington Bridge area will be available at the group meeting on 11 June, or on request.

RESEACH PROJECTS WHERE YOU MAYBE ABLE TO HELP

From time to time we get requests to pass on news of research projects to our members.  If you are interested in any of the following, please contact the institutions directly as indicated.

The Institute of Cancer Research, London, are currently looking for men who have benefitted from taking abiraterone.  They say: “The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) has discovered and developed many of the cancer treatments widely used today, including abiraterone, and led ground breaking research which has changed the face of prostate cancer research globally. We want to raise greater awareness of the advances our researchers are making. With the help of people who have/ have had cancer we hope to clearly demonstrate the impact of our research, raise more awareness of cancer and drive more support for the crucial research that we are doing at The ICR.”  Would you share your story?  See https://www.icr.ac.uk/about-us/share-your-story for further information.

From PCUK comes this message about an educational resource for clinicians:

“To help doctors and nurses to provide better support to patients Prostate Cancer UK would like to develop an educational resource for clinicians which targets the issues identified by men with prostate cancer and family or friends caring for them. We have commissioned researchers at Hull York Medical School (HYMS) to help us with this work, and need your help.

How can you help?  The first step is to find out the range of needs patients and carers have. To collect this information HYMS have created an online survey. The questionnaire is completely anonymous. At the end of the survey there is information about stage 2 of the project. If you would like to help with that you will be asked to leave your contact details, but these will not be linked to your survey responses.   The survey is open to anyone aged 18 years or over, who lives in the UK, and is living with prostate cancer or is caring for someone with prostate cancer.

You can help by completing the survey. 

Click here to access the survey http://research.hyms.ac.uk/prostatesurvey

And another one from PCUK:

“We have been asked to disseminate this important piece of European research. Please can you share with your group members to help inform this work.

We are currently looking to understand what men diagnosed with prostate cancer believe are the most important questions to be answered using Big Data. To achieve this, UCAN is working with other charities and non-profit organisations to give our patients the opportunity to add their views by completing our prioritisation survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/J3YTQ7G

The EAU Guidelines Office has put together a consortium of the best in Europe as well as a handful of other major global players outside Europe to tackle the issue of how to harness the power of Big Data to improve outcomes for Prostate Cancer patients. This project is called “Prostate Cancer DIagnOsis and TreatmeNt Enhancement through the Power of Big Data in EuRope” or in short “PIONEER”.  The European Commission IMI has approved the funding for this EAU led Pan-European consortium project.

A critical requirement is to agree on and prioritise the most important questions in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment that needs answered for the next generation. The EAU Prostate Cancer Guideline Panel and other experts have identified 44 questions they believe are most important to be answered using Big Data. We have already conducted the first round of this survey.

We are now conducting the second round of the survey.  The patients’ survey is available at the following link:https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/J3YTQ7G

NEWS FROM MEMBERS

Toby Hawes, grandson of our Treasurer Dave and Committee member Jean, ran the London marathon and raised a phenomenal £1600 for Prostate Cancer Research.  Congratulations Toby!

CAN YOU HELP AT AN EVENT?

OPCSG will be attending the following events this summer, with a gazebo, leaflets and volunteers to talk to the passing public.  If you would like a good day out and the chance to spread our message, please contact the relevant organiser and tell him when you can help –

Monday 25 June – Cassington Bike Night – John Grundy – johngrundy191@gmail.com, 01865 730110

Saturday 21 July – Witney Steam Fair – Steve Tuck – steve.tuck@mail.com, 01865 880306

Monday 27 August – Uffington White Horse Show – John Goldsmith john.goldsmith43@outlook.com, 01865 580152.

FUTURE MEETINGS all 6.30 for 7.00 p.m., Oxford Golf Club (except the cruise)

11 June: Yun Wang, Prostate Brachytherapy ANP/ Radiotherapy Specialist Nurse from radiotherapy department, Churchill Hospital, on brachytherapy

Sunday 24 June: river cruise

10 September: Mr Steve Foley, consultant, Reading, on incontinence treatments

15 October: Mark Hunter (OPCSG member) on his life as a lighthouse keeper.

If you no longer wish to receive this Newsletter please let me know on johngrundy191@gmail.com or 01865 730110.  For news updates keep an eye on our website at www.opcsg.org.

John Grundy                                                             Chairman, OPCSG