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We need your help!

We are a team of researchers at Imperial College London looking at whether cancer patients like you want to choose where to have tests and surgery. We also want to know what you think is important to know about the hospital and team treating you. We would be very grateful if you could spare up to 15 minutes to complete our survey which you will find at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cancerchoicesurvey

Thank you!

Many members have been asking for notes and information from the AGM which took place on Saturday 21st June 2014. Below is a link to download the presentation notes given by Professor Hanna, Professor Mason, Professor Mughal talk “looking forward to the next ten years in oesophago-gastric cancer treatment”.

Click here to download the O-G Cancer – The Next Ten Years presentation as a PDF

Here are some images from the AGM, presentation and speakers

The Anaesthesia and Perioperative Care Priority Setting Partnership aims to identify the most important research areas to improve the physical and mental well-being of patients attending hospital for any operation or procedure requiring any type of anaesthetic. A short online survey (5-10 minutes) is open until the end of July for patients, carers and clinicians to contribute their ideas about unanswered research questions related to this topic. It is a unique opportunity to have your say and participate in this important and wide-ranging partnership that will have a real impact on research in hospital care.

For further information and access to the survey please go to: http://www.niaa.org.uk/PSP_Survey#pt

Chris and Rob Turner from West Bridgford, Nottingham held a coffee morning on 17th May to raise funds for the OPA, using the new downloadable pack from the OPA website.

Here’s what they had to say:

In February we offered to hold a coffee morning and try out the fundraising pack which the OPA had just put online. Rob had had surgery in April of last year and by then was almost back to full health and ready to do something to help others affected by oesophageal cancer.

We started, first of all, by listing friends, family and neighbours we wanted to invite. We decided on a date and time and printed the invitations, adapting them slightly to suit our needs. We also decided to have the event running into the afternoon to allow as many people as possible to join us.

This was closely followed by us making a list of all the local shops and stores who we thought might help out by donating raffle prizes. After finding out the names of store managers, letters were written explaining who we were and what we were doing. We then took these personally to local shops and restaurants which gave us the chance to answer any questions and to explain further how the OPA would benefit from the money raised.

We then started to think about practicalities; would we have enough garden chairs (we held the event outdoors and luckily the weather was perfect), enough tables, enough cups? After knocking on a few more doors we managed to borrow tables, chairs and a large gazebo as well as mugs and plates from the local church. We even borrowed a small tea urn from our local OPA group to ensure we always had boiling water on tap!Raffle prizes and offers of help soon started to pour in. We were amazed at how generous people could be. Almost everyone, from close friends and family to neighbours, shopkeepers and restaurant managers helped out by donating either time, money or goods.

As the big day arrived we looked at what we had got. Twenty nine raffle prizes needed to be placed in some sort of prize order, quiz sheets needed to be prepared and the darts game (three darts in the oesophagus of a torso drawn on thick lining paper and secured to a dart board!) needed assembling. A midday meal was made for all those helping out for the full four and a half hours (10.30 – 3pm) and last minute shopping was bought. And we were all set!

The day of the coffee morning arrived and, for us at least, it was a very early start. Once again, we were amazed at the generosity of everyone. We had around 70 people attend over four and half hours and it was lovely seeing people all chatting together and making new friends.

At the end of the day we counted up the money and found we had made well over £600, which far exceeded all our expectations.

A big “Thank you” to all those who helped out, especially Jillian and Maurice Chatfield, our new friends from our local OPA group, who slaved tirelessly in the kitchen; and those who joined us for coffee, bought raffle tickets or made donations – we couldn’t have done it without you!