Raising awareness of lymphatic cancer from 12th to 18th September

This week (12^th to 18^th September) is Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week. This is an opportunity to raise awareness of lymphoma and fundraise for this important work. We checked out the Lymphoma Association website, and there are still a number of ways that you can help and get involved…

We have picked out just a few ideas here:

Tell people online – If you are on Twitter, you could tweet: ‘This week is #Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week, which raises awareness of the UK’s fifth most common cancer. http://www.lymphomas25.org.uk/lymphatic-cancer-awareness-week-2011

Text Giving – You can support Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week by texting LCAW11 and the amount you would like to donate (e.g. LCAW11 £5) to 70070. The Lymphoma Association will receive the whole amount.

Here at AllClear we support Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week. We know that if you have lymphatic cancer, then a holiday can be a great way to recharge the batteries, or aid in recovery. So we have collected the following tips for people with lymphatic cancer who either have a holiday planned, or want to plan one in the future (Thanks to the Lymphoma Association for a lot of this information).

Here are our tips on travelling with lymphatic cancer:

• Planning: What type of medical facilities are there at your destination? Could you get medication if you needed it? Talk everything through with your doctor – they might be able to recommend a colleague in the local area who you can speak to if you need to.
• Travel Insurance: Make sure you get specialist travel insurance that covers your cancer, in case you need any medical treatment while you are away.
• Lymphatic cancer Medication: Take enough medication for your trip, plus extras. Some medications are not readily available in other countries, so it is worthwhile to check out beforehand what you should do if your supply gets low.
  • Keep all medications in their original containers with labels. Prescription bottles should have your name, and the name and dosage of the cancer medication clearly indicated.
  • Consider carrying a note from your doctor with a list of your required medications on it to prove that you need them. This is especially important for pain medications, antidepressants, and stimulants that may be illegal in other countries.
  • Carry all your medications in a re-sealable plastic bag to prevent spills. If you are traveling with chemotherapy or injectable medications, this is particularly important.
  • Ask your doctor or pharmacist how to handle your medications if you will be traveling to a different time zone.
  • If you need syringes for your medications, make sure you bring enough for your entire trip, as well as a note from your doctor explaining why you need them.
• Infection: If you have active lymphoma, you may be more prone to infection because of the impact of the disease on the immune System. This is particularly true if you  are currently receiving chemotherapy or steroids. You can greatly reduce the risk of infectious disease by attention to simple hygiene. For example, wash hands thoroughly; buy all drinking water in sealed bottles and do not have ice if you are unsure of the water source
• Vaccines: Some vaccines are not recommended for people with lymphoma because the vaccine contains live organisms (a small weakened version of the disease-causing organism, causing an immune reaction so the person is protected in the future) . Consider this when deciding your destination. Here are some examples, but you would need to check with your doctor for your individual circumstances.

1. Polio Vaccine – the inactivated vaccine is suitable for people with lymphoma

2. Meningitis Vaccine – people who have had their spleen removed are at particular risk of contracting meningitis

3. Yellow fever vaccine – for certain countries in Africa and South America. Since it should not be given to people with lymphoma, it may restrict your ability to travel to such countries.

4. If necessary, make sure you are protected against mosquito bites. If you are need to take malaria tablets, check with your GP that  that anti-malaria tablets recommended would not result in any chemotherapy treatment or other medication for your lymphoma.

If you have any other useful tips on travelling with lymphatic cancer, do please add them to the comments box below.

A 'Universal' vaccine for Cancer is being trialled

A ‘universal’ vaccine for cancer could be available in just 2 years, according to this article. The TeloVac jab is part of a new generation of drugs that use the body’s own defences to fight the disease. TeloVac has already been given to hundreds of Britons with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease. But it is hoped it will be effective against many other tumours, including those of the skin, lung and liver.

In the case of pancreatic cancer, which killed actor Patrick Swayze, survival rates have barely improved in the past 40 years, and patients typically die within six months of diagnosis. Just 3% survive five years, and it is the fifth biggest cancer killer in the UK. Although vaccines usually prevent disease, the TeloVac jab is designed as a treatment.

Rather than attacking the cancer cells, like many existing drugs, it harnesses the power of the body’s own immune system to fight the tumours (in the same way that vaccines for infectious diseases encourage our immune system to fight off the specific virus).  It works by encouraging the immune system to seek out and destroy an enzyme called telomerase. Found at high levels in many cancer cells, telomerase effectively makes them immortal, allowing them to live on when healthy cells would die – easing the growth and spread of the tumour.

In the largest trial of its kind in the UK, more than 1,000 men and women in the late stages of pancreatic cancer are either being given the vaccine alongside their normal drugs, or treated as usual. The results from the 53 hospitals taking part will not be available until next year but, anecdotally, some patients credit their participation in the trial with giving them an extra year or two of life. In earlier, smaller trials, the vaccine gave those in the late stages of the disease an average of an extra three months.  Pancreatic cancer cells are normally invisible to the immune system but the vaccine ‘spots’ the telomerase spilling out from them and kick-starts the fight back.

Healthy cells escape the attack because their levels of telomerase are too low to bother the immune system. This cuts the risk of side-effects such as nausea and hair loss normally seen with cancer drugs.

The latest study is funded by Cancer Research UK. Obviously, there is still a lot of clinical research to be done, proves the jab’s worth, it could be available to treat advanced pancreatic cancer by the end of 2013. In time, it could be used earlier in the disease – and even to prevent it.

We will keep you posted when we hear any more about this cancer vaccine. In the meantime, if you, or a family member or friend, has cancer and you are planning a holiday, you might find our travelling with cancer blog category useful.

So what is his story? Well basically, following his stomach problems.  Andy had routine blood tests which showed he had raised prostate-­specific antigen (PSA) levels, a marker for prostate cancer — while normal readings are around four, Andy’s was 20. More tests showed he had an aggressive walnut-sized tumour that had broken through the ­covering of the prostate gland and was at risk of spreading.

Andy was told he needed surgery to remove the tumour and the prostate, followed by radiotherapy. There can be pretty severe side effects with this surgery, including urinary incontinence and impotence, due to the risk of nerve damage.

However, Andy’s surgeon told him about another option — instead of surgery he could have an intense form of radiotherapy, known as high dose rate brachytherapy.  This involves putting a tiny ­radioactive seed inside the prostate via a needle or catheter and then removing it 20 minutes later — because the radiation isn’t beamed through healthy tissue, it causes less damage. There is still a risk, although this is thought to be much less than with surgery and conventional ­radiotherapy.

First, Andy had to undergo standard hormone treatment to shrink the tumour. Then Andy had two brachytherapy treatments. He then had a lower dose of conventional radiotherapy for four-and-a-half weeks to make sure all the cancer had gone. Tests then confirmed there was no sign of the cancer, and he was soon back performing at gigs.

Around 36,000 men in Britain are diagnosed with the cancer each year and 10,000 die of the disease, but this new treatment provides some new hope for people suffering from prostrate cancer. March is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month so I wanted to share this blog post with you to let you know about the new treatment.

AllClear supports prostate cancer awareness month given that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and more needs to be known about the treatment and diagnosis options available. We also know that for people with cancer, a holiday may be really important for rest and recuperation, and that is why we offer travel insurance for prostate cancer.  You can find out more about travelling with cancer here.

So how does it work? The device, called the Ambulight, is an established alternative to surgery for many forms of skin cancer that uses laser combined with a light-sensitive drug to destroy cancer cells. This avoids the scarring associated with surgical removal of the tumour and the need for a hospital stay.

The Ambulight consists of a pod that houses medical-grade red LED lights. The light source is attached to a controller the size of a mobile phone. Photosensitising cream is rubbed on to the skin, and the pod is attached to the skin with a plaster. Once the cream is absorbed into the skin, the pod automatically turns on. Three hours later the light switches off and the device can be disposed of. Patients can move freely during treatment. The machine costs just £100,  about half the price of the average hospital outpatient appointment.

This new sticking plaster treatment is used to treat non-melanoma-type skin cancers, which affect around 15% of the UK population. These cancers do not commonly spread, but they are still considered malignant.

Ambulight developer James Ferguson, Professor of dermatology at Dundee University, hopes the treatment will eventually be offered at GP surgeries.

Muriel Lowe, 59 underwent the treatment after being diagnosed with skin cancer. Muriel had two treatments, then after three months she returned for tests and was told the cancer had gone.

The Ambulight plaster has just received a European licence and is now being rolled out to NHS hospitals nationwide. I think this seems like an extremely clever new treatment and will be interested to hear more about as it gets rolled out in the UK.

If you have skin cancer and are  planning a holiday, you can find out more about travelling with cancer here.

This article in the Times talks about a new prostate cancer treatment  which doesn’t even involve any new therapies. It is just a new combination of therapies compared to the standard treatment. Men treated with a combination of radiotherapy and hormone therapy were 43% less likely to die from the disease than those treated with hormones alone.

Prostate cancer is the UKs most common cancer among men, with about 36,000 cases diagnosed each year, up to a third of which are in the advanced stages.  Currently, less than half of men with advanced prostate cancer receive radiotherapy, with most having only hormone therapy or surgery.

A team from Cardiff University studied 1,205 men with locally advanced prostate cancer in the UK and Canada. All were given hormone therapy and half were also given radiotherapy. After seven years, 90% of men given both treatments were still alive, compared with 79% of those given only hormones.

There is also a new way to operate on pancreatic cancer, according to this article in the Daily Express. Of all the cancers it has the lowest survival rate and only about 15% of patients live past a year. The actor Patrick Swayze died aged 57 from the disease last year. By the time many sufferers of pancreatic cancer realise anything is wrong, it is often too late.

In Ann Clark’s case though the tumour happened to form near her bile duct eventually causing a blockage as it grew and giving a life-saving early warning sign. Her whole body turned yellow almost overnight as the blockage caused jaundice.

She was told that she was among the 10% of pancreatic cancer sufferers who are suitable for a complex type of surgery called Whipple’s Procedure which involves removal of the head of the pancreas, duodenum, part of the stomach and ducts to the liver and gut. Conventionally it means major open surgery which carries a risk of infection and involves several months recovery time. Another problem is that chemotherapy to destroy the remaining traces of the cancer is often delayed while the patient recuperates from the operation which typically leaves a 30cm scar around the ribcage.

But there was another option…Zak Rahman, Ann’s consultant at the Royal Free Hospital in London, told her about pioneering keyhole surgery. She became one of the first dozen patients in the country to have an operation in which six small holes, of 1cm each and a larger one of about 5cm are made to allow the Whipple’s Procedure to be performed. Keyhole surgery is only an option when the tumour hasn’t spread, so early diagnosis is important. After her surgery, she was  out of bed the following day and walking and eating normally within 48 hours.

The common theme with both these treatments is the hope that these cancer treatments mean that people can get on with living their lives, as far as possible. This is good news, and hopefully makes it easier for you to enjoy a holiday, if you have cancer, as a way to recuperate. For more information on travelling with cancer, or cancer travel insurance, check out these blogs.

If you have cancer, or are recovering from it, a holiday may be essential for you.  Indeed, you may want to plan a holiday at the end of your cancer treatment to relax and recuperate. But if you are travelling with cancer there are a number of extra things that you need to think about. Here are some of the tips we have put together which you may find useful.

Travel Insurance: You will need to arrange specialist cancer travel insurance. This is vital in case you fall ill and have to be brought home, or have unexpected further cancer treatment abroad, as this could be very expensive. Your cancer travel insurance will give you complete peace of mind so you can get on with enjoying your holiday. You may have had difficulty in finding travel insurance to cover your cancer in the past but because AllClear specialize in medical travel insurance, we can provide annual or single trip cancer travel insurance to worldwide destinations.

Talk to a Medical Professional: They may be able to suggest a good time to go, as well as helping to decide what is realistic for you. They can let you know if you are fit to travel.

Destination Decisions: For many, travelling with cancer will have little effect on their holiday. However, you may feel more tired following cancer treatment so you should check that the facilities you need are close to where you are staying. Also, certain cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy, leave the skin more sensitive to the sun. Consider your flight length, because some people with cancer are at greater risk of developing blood clots or DVT.

Vaccinations: If you are having certain cancer drugs or have a weakened immune system, you may not be able to have the required vaccinations for your holiday destination, so check with your doctor.

Medication: If you are taking any cancer medication, you should plan how much you need to take with you and get make sure you have extra in case you lose any.

 We hope that this information is useful for you. Please share any other tips in the comments box below that may be useful for people travelling with cancer.