Sarcoma South UK Group Blog

Tea Party

Tea Party

Posted by Steve on Tuesday 1st July

We had a great tea party last Saturday as part of Sarcoma Awareness Week.

You can see more photos at Sarcoma Awareness Week.

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On The Ball Campaign

Posted by Steve on Thursday 3rd July

Sarcoma UK have announced that they will be carrying on sending out On The Ball packs throughout the year, with the next batch going out in the week beginning 21st July. So you can still order a pack, or even more packs, from Sarcoma UK at http://sarcoma.org.uk/Awareness/ontheball.

They have sent out over 750 packs so far.

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New Patient Story

Posted by Steve on Friday 4th July

This is a new page with a patient's experience of the importance of seeing the right oncologist and her talk to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer.

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Facts for my GP

Posted by Steve on Saturday 5th July

Some of the things I will be telling my GP to go with the On The Ball pack:

  • Sarcoma UK are worried that recognition of sarcoma is not as good as it could be. This is because sarcoma is so rare (less than 1% of all cancers in England) and sometimes quite difficult to diagnose. Unfortunately the survival rate is only 55% and the aim is to dramatically increase that.
  • A recent report from Cancer52  on National Cancer Intelligence Network data shows that the survival rate for soft tissue sarcoma is 98% if the GP refers a patient within a month.
  • Statistically speaking, a GP is not likely to see more than one patient with sarcoma in their career lifetime making diagnosis that much more difficult.

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Clinical Research Network: Wessex Launch Event

Posted by Tricia on Saturday 5th July

Went to the launch event of the Clinical Research Network Wessex on 5th June in Basingstoke. There were speakers from the National Institute for Health Research, Southampton University and Portsmouth Hospitals and there are research trials in many areas of health, not just cancer.

Wessex is third in the Top Ten of Networks in England with the greatest  of number of trials. In 2001 only 4% cancer patients were recruited into clinical trials and in 2013/14 it has risen to 20%. Rarer cancers are described as “orphan” cancers as it is more difficult to open and recruit patients to trials. The aim is to enable more patients to enter trials. The quality of research trials is among the best in the world but there is more work to be done.

If you are a cancer patient or carer and  would like to become involved in the Cancer Research Partnership Group based at Southampton Hospital please contact
Jac Samuel Cancer Research UK senior research nurse j.a.samuel@soton.ac.uk

The Cancer Research Partnership Group helps refine cancer research activities, raise awareness of trials and support research through advocacy and engagement, making a valued contribution to all areas of cancer research across the South Coast.

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Old Harry Rocks image (adapted) is © Copyright Eirian Evans and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.