Our support for you this World Cancer Day
Thursday 4 February 2021
Today is World Cancer Day, a key moment to raise further awareness of bowel cancer and provide support to everyone affected by the disease.
Around 268,000 people living in the UK today have been diagnosed with bowel cancer. It's treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early, and nearly everyone survives if diagnosed at the earliest stage. However this drops significantly as the disease develops. More than 16,000 people die from bowel cancer in the UK every year – that's 44 people every day.
COVID-19 has sadly had a huge impact on bowel cancer services, which were already stretched before the crisis hit. The number of people referred, diagnosed and treated for the disease has gone down significantly because of the pandemic and this devastating effect is likely to take months or even years to recover.
Through these unprecedented times, we're here for you at every step.
Our support for you
We have a wide range of expert information and support for everyone affected by bowel cancer, so that you can find the support that's right for you at the time you need it.
1. Read our range of accurate, clear and up-to-date information about bowel cancer, including symptoms, screening, diagnosis, treatment and living beyond the disease on our website. We have expert information, available to download as booklets, leaflets and factsheets, as well as the latest information and support about bowel cancer and coronavirus.
2. You can find peer support through our online community, a welcoming place for everyone affected by bowel cancer to ask questions, share experiences and support each other.
3. Hearing about others affected by bowel cancer can help those in similar situations feel less isolated and alone. You can read the real life stories of people who have bowel cancer and their loved ones here.
4. Listen to our podcast with BBC journalist George Alagiah, who interviews supporters and leading experts on the disease about treatments, living well with bowel cancer and looking after your emotional health.
5. Our nurses are here to help answer your questions, provide you with information and show you where you can find further support.
We're bringing people together
Patients, families and friends, doctors and nurses, scientists and researchers, politicians and campaigners and everyone fundraising for us to create a future where nobody dies of bowel cancer. We're doing this by:
1. Educating the public and professionals about the disease, through our awareness talks and training workshops.
2. Campaigning for early diagnosis and access to best treatment and care across the UK, through working together with people affected by bowel cancer and the clinical and research community.
3. Working with the NHS as a member of the Cancer Recovery Taskforce, we're influencing plans to ensure cancer services recover to at least pre-pandemic levels as soon as possible. This includes making sure the backlog of thousands waiting for further investigations is effectively addressed.
4. Funding vital, lifesaving research. We're committed to working towards addressing the recommendations in our landmark 'Critical Gaps in Colorectal Cancer Research' initiative that saw scientists, clinicians and patients prioritising the areas of research, for the greatest impact on people affected by bowel cancer.
Working together to help everyone affected by bowel cancer
Our vision is a future where nobody dies of bowel cancer, but we can’t achieve this alone.
You, our fantastic supporters, fundraisers and volunteers make change happen. Every bake sale, run, partnership, awareness talk and donation helps us stop people dying of bowel cancer.
So today on World Cancer Day, please share our video, like, and fundraise; join thousands of others to campaign with us; share your story; and consider making a donation towards our lifesaving work so that we can be here for you all now and in the future.
Because together we can help save lives today
- For World Cancer Day, we’re giving you the chance to get £5 off both our adult’s and children’s Star of Hope hoodies on our shop. Just enter the code WORLDCANCERDAY at checkout
