The Cancer Marathon

[TimTheSurgeon]

Find blogs by a practicing oesophageal surgeon and researcher here: thecancermarathon.org/

Episode 1 of our video following the patient journey through oesophageal cancer can be found at the same site.

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Tim Underwood is an excellent surgeon at Southampton and this is a really good cause, close to all our hearts (in more ways than one!).

Earlier diagnosis is crucial to getting patients in to Tim and his counterparts so that cancers are found early enough to be treated.

Persistent heartburn is a sign of things needing investigation. It may not be cancer, but persistent heartburn is not normal. This cancer may affect predominantly men over 50 years, but I was at a patient support group this morning where nearly half were slim women in their 30s. So we do need to raise awareness generally; encourage people not to keep taking gaviscon month after month but to get checked out by their GP; and GPs to refer patients for specialist examination to investigate underlying causes.

As far as this cancer goes, there is relatively little money spent on research compared to some of the others.

So well done to Tim and the team for doing this work - the best of luck for the marathon - and it is a very worthwhile cause!

Alan

[cherrybailey]

Best of Luck to all!