We must learn lessons from the cancer crisis
Even before the Covid inquiry, still due to get under way this spring, the extraordinary toll of lockdowns and other pandemic measures is becoming clear. As we…
On-the-spot cancer tests while you do the shopping in bid to boost detection rates
More than 100 centres will be opened over the next year, with plans to offer at least nine million scans and other checks, initially on an appointment…
Britain’s appalling cancer survival rates must be the focus of the next public health drive
Cancer is brutal and it’s relentless. There are no waves or peaks, just thousands of deaths every week, many of which are unnecessary and entirely avoidable. Survival rates…
My sons and I ran 288 miles between Maggie’s centres in memory of my wife
Rob Flett, 51, is a journalist and lives in Orkney My wife Moira has always been brilliant about getting us out and doing stuff. We went hiking…
Victoria Derbyshire on life after breast cancer: ‘The joy I felt at being alive was amazing’
BBC radio and TV broadcaster and journalist Victoria Derbyshire, 53, lives in London with her husband Mark, sons Ollie and Joe, and their two cocker spaniels. Below,…
Chris Evert caught it early – but ovarian cancer remains the silent killer
Within a week, Jo-Ann was in a room with a consultant and a Macmillan cancer nurse, who broke the news. In hindsight, she says there had been…
‘If the kid lives, so do I’: what Ricky Gervais’s After Life gets right about children with cancer
Similarly, After Life has always gone for the emotional jugular. The pathos finally hits hard in the last episode, when Gervais/Tony finds some much needed humility. Meeting the kids…
The doctor who invented a super accurate bowel cancer test after losing his dad to the disease
Tang’s ColoAlert test – developed with a laboratory in Mainz, Germany, headed by his mother-in-law, Professor Maria Paz Weishaar, a leading biomedic – goes further by screening…
George Alagiah: I’m lucky for the life I’ve had, but cancer will probably get me in the end
George Alagiah has said he feels “lucky” for the life he has lived, while acknowledging that cancer will “probably get me in the end”. The BBC newsreader, 66,…
One-hour operation could cure prostate cancer by destroying tumours with electric currents
Experts said the new treatment is far less invasive than standard treatments, meaning it can be carried out more quickly and with fewer side-effects. Standard treatments such…
Everything you need to know about the test that can tell you when you will get cancer
What if doctors could build a model of your organs inside a laboratory, then use it to predict whether or not you will develop cancer – and…
‘I’ve known lots of people who beat cancer and lots who didn’t – you can’t get to my age and not’
On a cold winter’s day, I’m greeted at the door of Maggie’s cancer centre in West London by actress Hermione Norris. It is warm inside, very warm,…
Five thousand cancers a month could be missed as GPs axe routine checks in booster drive
Five thousand cancers a month could be missed under plans to axe routine GP appointments, research suggests. On Monday, Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said GPs will…
Janet Ellis: ‘My husband’s cancer wasn’t curable – we knew we wouldn’t be silver-haired together’
There is something a little disconcerting, but terribly moving, about Janet’s ability to talk so openly about her loss. She is, she says, incredibly grateful that she…
‘Biggest cancer catastrophe ever’ to hit NHS as up to 740,000 potential cases missed
The NHS is preparing to launch its Elective Recovery Plan in an effort to tackle the backlog waiting for hospital care, as well as prioritise the most…
‘Maggie didn’t quite die – her spirit is very much alive’
In 1993, when Maggie Jencks was 52, she found herself in Dumfries hospital being told that the breast cancer she thought she had recovered from had in…
‘At 41 I had life-saving cancer surgery – and was left with a life-changing swelling condition’
At the age of 41, my life was turned upside down. Following a routine smear test in 2000, I was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. Sitting…