Happiness isn’t an emotion I’m used to feeling, as someone with stage 4 incurable bowel cancer who doesn’t know when will be the last day I wake up. Usually, I scream while I’m in the shower as a way to get out all of the internal rage I’m feeling about going to my grave early. But today I’m allowing myself a scream of joy as it seems that Wes Streeting has listened to the key messages of the Daily Express’s Cancer Care campaign. Cancer is the hardest thing that most people will ever go through in their lifetime, with mental health issues a core side effect of the devastating disease.
But for too long cancer teams have failed to acknowledge this and have instead preferred to tackle the easy side effects, like fatigue, diarrhoea, and rashes caused by immunotherapy. With the support of readers like you and charities, and campaigners across the land, we have highlighted how the toughest part of cancer is coping with the mental health aspects.
It’s great to have cancer experts who know exactly what combination of chemotherapy drugs to give on what day.
But why aren’t medical teams helping their patients deal with the 3am thoughts of despair where they wonder whether every ache and pain is due to the cancer spreading?
Why aren’t the medical teams referring people to charities and community organisations to help them get support for loneliness, and to support groups full of like-minded people who can help them when they are struggling?
These questions end today. For more than a year, the Daily Express has been calling for all cancer patients to have mental health support both during and after treatment.
And, in measures revealed at a Maggie’s Centre this morning, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting shows he has listened.
For the first time, he says every patient will get a personalised cancer plan that goes beyond treatment and diagnosis and will cover the full impact of cancer on their life – from anxiety and fatigue to diet and getting back to work.
It’s vital that medical teams don’t just see this as a one-off checkbox exercise. It must be regularly updated as the impact that cancer has on a patient’s life will change throughout their treatment, just like the disease is changing inside them.
I won’t end treatment until I’m in an overpriced wooden box six feet under, but thankfully, many cancer patients do end treatment by getting the all-clear and getting on with their lives.
But once the feelings of joy and relief fade away it becomes clear just how much their lives have been permanently changed by cancer. This is why the Cancer Care campaign has always stressed the importance of support after treatment.
So it’s worth an extra scream of joy as the Health Secretary has recognised that this is an issue. And today he pledged that there will be help for survivors to get them through the psychological toll that cancer has had on their lives.
Now is the time for hospitals to step up and ensure the measures outlined today actually happen for their patients.
Personalised cancer plans can’t just be another NHS thing that’s seen as nice to have but doesn’t happen. They need to be in all cancer hospitals as soon as possible, to help people with cancer live the best lives they can.
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