I was pleased to attend the first Can you C me? day organised by the BME Forum and Macmillan Cancer Support. The aim of the conference was to address racial disparities within cancer support, raise the voices of marginalised communities and emphasise the importance of equality in health care.
Key points that stood out for me were:-
- Cancer doesn’t care who you are.
- Early diagnosis is crucial to achieving better outcomes.
- The good news is that both diagnosis methods and treatment options are improving all the time.
I attended a workshop on prostate cancer, which is of particular importance to me because as will happen to about 1 in 8 men in the UK in their lifetime I was some years ago diagnosed with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer mainly affects men over 50, and your risk increases with age. The risk is even higher for black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer. Men can find out more about their risk here.
I was particularly pleased to hear about a prostate cancer support group for black men ‘Cancer Don’t Let It Win’ a prostate cancer support group for black men. One of factors that I found most helpful in my case was attending just such a group in Purley. Cancer don’t let it win can be contacted via cancerdontletitwin@gmail.com and mobile 07538798819.
