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I have learnt that effective cancer treatment can be life-saving.

I have also learnt that surviving cancer is profoundly life-limiting.

My life was saved by the very best of our reactive model of cancer care, and I live with its costs every day. These costs have at times been extreme. Because of the urgency of my diagnosis, I was not able to store a sperm sample and, when I was later offered the chance after treatment, little remained. There are many parts of the world I will probably never visit because I need to remain within reach of hospitals in case of obstruction. Because of my acquired anatomy, I develop many kidney infections each year, travel with prophylactic antibiotics and live with regular discomfort. Yet I am alive, and that was not expected.

I belong to a transitional generation. My parents’ generation faced cancer largely as a death sentence. Mine faces it as survivable but devastating, a bargain in which you trade your body and your simplest pleasures for the right to keep breathing.

The question now is whether the generation after mine will have to make that same bargain, or whether we will have had the courage to spare them from it entirely.

We need healthcare systems to understand that without prevention, the projected rise in cancer cases will overwhelm them. And we need political leaders to fund cancer prevention not as a footnote to treatment budgets but as a priority in line with what is at stake: millions of lives that need never be disrupted, diminished or destroyed by this disease.

Prevention….Prevention….Prevention

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/cancer-research-cure-prevention-scientist-oxford-fnpmzqfbr

In this powerful conversation, three cancer survivors share what it was really like to navigate diagnosis, treatment decisions, and immunotherapy – often without the guidance or support they needed.

“Hope in Action: A Patient’s Guide to Cancer Immunotherapy is a clear, compassionate resource designed for anyone impacted by cancer-patients, caregivers, and loved ones alike. It explains what immunotherapy is, how it works, what to expect during treatment, and how to get support every step of the way.

Click to access CRI_Patients-Guide-25.pdf

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill says she has signed off on a plan for an end-to-end review of Ireland’s system for approving access and funding for new drugs and medical treatments.

The review to take around six months and it would form part of wider efforts to ensure medicine reimbursement decisions are made within 180 days of an application being submitted by pharmaceutical companies.

“This builds on new framework agreement targeting that reimbursement decisions are made within 180 days versus where we currently sit at around 600 days for oncology treatments. Getting from where we are to where we need to be requires exactly the kind of structural review that has now been commissioned.” UCAN Ireland

https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2026/0611/1578030-minister-signs-off-on-review-of-system-for-approving-new-drugs

If you’re a clinician or researcher in this space, the question isn’t:
“How do we give people more information?”

A better question is:
“How can we help equip & support patients to live with an uncertainty?”

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marleah-dean-kruzel-ph-d-02062128_previvor-healthcomm-hereditarycancer-share-7470271873835237376-lBZd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABs3g3EBzKjRijqM-dZ6l7MG8TrOKYFA0ws

Variant of Uncertain Significance is a genetic test result indicating a change in your DNA, but scientists currently lack enough data to know if it is harmless or causes disease.

Determining whether a genomic variant is truly disease-causing is a rigorous scientific process.

“It requires robust evidence, internationally agreed standards, and often detailed discussion within multidisciplinary teams of clinicians, laboratory scientists, bioinformaticians, and genetic counsellors. Variants are not simply “found” and reported; they are carefully evaluated, challenged, and reviewed before any meaningful conclusions can be drawn.”

This MHRA authorisation marks an important milestone as we explore approaches to shift cancer care from treating disease to preventing it.

Phase 1 of the INTERCEPT-Lynch trial, which is funded by Moderna, sponsored by the University of Oxford and run by the University’s Oncology Clinical Trials Office with support from Oxford Cancer, has received authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and is expected to begin recruiting participants this summer.

It will test ‘mRNA-4194’, an investigational mRNA-based vaccine developed by Moderna, which is designed to help prevent cancer in people with Lynch syndrome.

“People with Lynch syndrome live with a very high risk of developing cancer, often at a younger age than the general population. The INTERCEPT-Lynch trial represents a meaningful step in our efforts to prevent Lynch syndrome-associated cancers before they develop”

https://www.cancer.ox.ac.uk/news/first-trial-of-vaccine-to-prevent-lynch-syndrome-associated-cancers-approved-to-start-in-oxford

“Research Creates Hope 🫶
Hope Creates Survivors 🙏🏻

ThankYou to every researcher, scientist, clinician, trial participant, and supporter involved in cancer research🔬without the dedication, innovation, and breakthroughs achieved over the years, would so many of us be here today?

Research saves lives, every discovery brings hope 🧪every trial opens new possibilities 🧫and every advancement gives more people the chance to become survivors👩🏽‍🔬

Today, we celebrate not only survivors but also those working tirelessly behind the scenes to make survival possible.”

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7469281005141610497/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABs3g3EBzKjRijqM-dZ6l7MG8TrOKYFA0ws

Chemo round 184…..

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jj-singleton-a275ab2a4_lifewithcancer-anthonybourdain-fightcrc-ugcPost-7468086034610880512-sTe9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABs3g3EBzKjRijqM-dZ6l7MG8TrOKYFA0ws