I’m so proud to say ‘I did it for The Christie’ and I will continue to do so - Janice Moss

Janice Moss, Christie fundraiser and Partner Governor

Janice Moss

I am married and a mother of two sons, so when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, one of my first I thoughts was that I wouldn’t see my sons finish their education, and I became quite depressed.    

The staff who gave me radiotherapy at The Christie were incredibly kind, understanding, caring and patient with me; and 20 years on, not only are my sons married, I also have four wonderful grandchildren who are the light of my life.

A few months after I was successfully treated at The Christie I came across a photo in my local newspaper of the Altrincham & Sale fundraising group for The Christie and I immediately knew I should join them.   

My life changed from that day onwards, and it has been one of the best things I have ever done. Over 19 years later, I am Chair of Altrincham & Sale fundraising group. We work so hard to raise much needed money for The Christie charity, but we also have a lot of fun and I have met so many wonderful people.     

We are all used to hearing stories about people’s lives (relevant and irrelevant) when we are standing doing bucket collections and I am truly overwhelmed by total strangers’ generosity towards the hospital. “We all know someone who has been touched by The Christie” is one of the most common sentences I hear, day in and day out.

As well as being involved in the local fundraising group, I also became a volunteer at The Christie over 10 years ago. As a volunteer, I have done all sorts of things including handing out cupcakes to staff in parts of the hospital that I didn’t know existed, filing, surveying patients, making tea and toast for families waiting for a patient to come back from day surgery and of course working shifts in the May Draper Tea Bar (what foresight that lady must have had).

I have met so many amazing and grateful patients who come for a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit, and very often a chat. And I have made lots of wonderful friends who serve behind the tea bar with me. Many of them have been volunteering at The Christie for a long time and what they don’t know about the hospital is not worth knowing!

I have been to many seminars and I have attended the Spotlight events. I never cease to be amazed by the developments being made to treat cancer patients. I often come away wondering what else could possibly be discovered in the future. Then I hear about new drug trials, new machines, and new treatments; and the hope they bring.

Very recently, I was honoured to take another big step for The Christie, when I became a Partner Governor for The Christie charity. 

It is fortunate that I am retired because I am busier than I have ever been; I am only just finding time to keep up with my other outside interests and you can also tell I don’t like housework!

Janice Moss (3rd from left)

Throughout the last 20 years I have done many things for The Christie. I am therefore delighted to have been asked to support a new charity fundraising campaign, ‘I did it for The Christie’. This exciting new campaign aims to encourage people to do something for The Christie and for cancer patients throughout the North West. What you choose to do can be as little as liking the charity’s Facebook page, or as much as 20 years of fundraising like me!

My involvement with The Christie all started with a diagnosis of breast cancer, and the rest, as they say, is history. I’m so proud to say ‘I did it for The Christie’, and I will continue to do so.

Please visit www.christies.org/ididit to find out what you can do.

MR linac is a pioneering new form of radiotherapy that can ‘see and treat’ cancer with pinpoint accuracy - Shaun Atherton

Shaun Atherton, radiotherapy physics team manager for technical services

Shaun Atherton

It seems a long time since The Christie first became part of the Elekta MR-linac consortium. For those who don’t know what that is, MR-linac is a pioneering new form of radiotherapy machine that can ‘see and treat’ cancer with pinpoint accuracy. 

MR-linac combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning and tumour-busting radiotherapy treatment in one hi-tech package – and it will be one of only seven in the world! 

We are very lucky to be working with one of the world’s leading providers of radiotherapy equipment, Elekta, as part of a worldwide consortium with seven other world class cancer centres and the technology giant Phillips to bring MR-linac to The Christie.

As with any big project of this nature there have been numerous challenges to overcome and many ups and downs along the way, but it is here at last!

The Linac ring

The bunker that the MR-linac will be situated in has been one of the biggest challenges. We discovered that there’s a lot of history buried in that bunker which has housed lots of different types of radiotherapy machine (Linac) in the past. When I first joined The Christie in 1993, it was a Philips SL75-14, and before that it was a HILETRON. For the last 12 years it has been a Elekta Synergy Linac.

This history made it difficult to find accurate records for the bunker and made for a fascinating journey for both designers and building contractors. Thankfully, having paid a fixed price for the building work, the costs of this project have remained in budget.

Initially, the Elekta Synergy Linac that has been used for the past 12 years was removed by the physics team at The Christie. This machine itself was revolutionary at the time, having a cone beam CT imaging system, which has now become the gold standard for radiotherapy imaging. Our MR-linac will carry on the fine Christie tradition of being at the cutting edge of radiotherapy technology.

Once the Synergy Linac had been removed, the building contractors, DD Porters moved in to start the refurbishment of the bunker and control area. The build has taken many turns, including encountering steel where it shouldn’t have been, removing iron reinforcing bars and replacing them with MR friendly steel reinforcement bars and also underpinning a primary radiation barrier.

The whole bunker had to be excavated. As the Linac is wrapped around an MR unit it has to be partially installed below floor level, to allow the radiographers to work at arms level and for the Linac part of the machine to rotate 360 degrees around the patient. 

The building contractors also had to remove any iron reinforcements to ensure there was no effect on the magnetic field for the 1.5 tesla MR scanner, causing image distortions or induced magnetism which could affect any equipment in this bunker in the future. This was a very labour intensive process. As the bunker is landlocked, access to it was through the main radiotherapy department, creating its own unique issues, especially with cleaning.

Lifting crane

The safety of our staff, patients, and the public is our top priority on a project like this. That’s why a team of experts from Christie Medical Physics and Engineering have looked at radiation protection very carefully to ensure that MR-linac is totally safe for everyone. 

Once all the excavations had occurred to strip the bunker back to its shell, and to ease

delivery, DD Porters had to start putting it back together. All of the concrete had to be manually lifted into the bunker and there were many long evenings to get this finished.

MR-linac ring entering the hole in the roof

The delivery of the main components for the MR-linac was a very well thought out process. It involved closing Wilmslow Road on Sunday 9th October from 4am until early evening to allow the crane to do its work. The crane needed over 100 tonnes of counterbalance to safely lift the largest parts of the MR-linac and the length of the crane arm was over 40m. 

The next exciting phase of the work will be fitting the RF cage in November, an enclosure used to block electrical fields which might otherwise interfere with the very sensitive equipment inside. Once this is done, we can finalise the installation and get the equipment working. 

Elekta along with Christie medical physics and engineering and the MR-linac project team will be working closely together to ensure this state of the art equipment delivers world class treatment to Christie patients in the future. Whilst this is happening, our clinical staff will be working on how best to use the new technology to treat patients and which patients will get the greatest benefit from MR-linac. As nobody has yet treated a patient with an MR-linac anywhere in the world, much of this work will be done through research activities.

Patient facilities including waiting area, changing rooms and treatment room

Finally, work is continuing to provide a world class suite for patients to make their experience as friendly and safe as possible. 

Our MR colleagues from diagnostic radiology and the MR scientists were crucial in designing this area.

I feel truly privileged to be involved in such an exciting and innovative project, having to solve complex problems day in and day out. I know more than anything that everyone who is involved in this project is working together as one team to bring the very latest technology to The Christie and to ensure that our patients get the very best treatments they can for their cancer.

‘I did it for The Christie’ because my patients are the most courageous, brave and inspiring human beings I have ever met - Emma Widdowson

Emma Widdowson, Christie nurse and fundraiser 

Emma Widdowson

During September I ran from London to Manchester over seven days to raise money for The Christie and to highlight the challenges that many cancer patients experience.

I did it for The Christie because having worked as a nurse at The Christie on the Oncology Assessment Unit for 18 months I have learned about these challenges first-hand from my patients.

When I stared at The Christie I went to an induction session and the Chief Executive, Roger Spencer gave a welcoming speech. He told us that "the one piece of advice I will give you is talk to your patients." This stuck with me, and from day one of starting work at The Christie I did exactly that. I talked and listened to my patients every day and I found I had the honour of caring for some of the most courageous, brave and inspiring human beings I have ever met.

I’ve also been inspired by a close friend and cancer survivor, Mark, who has been treated at The Christie. Due to the nature of his illness he had to be in isolation for weeks following his treatment. The day he came out of isolation we sat in The Christie garden in the sun drinking coffee. He opened up about the challenges and hurdles he had to overcome both physically and mentally. It was at that moment that I decided I wanted a huge challenge to try and match the challenges that patients at The Christie like Mark have to battle with.

By listening and talking to my patients I was inspired to do something I didn't know was possible. But it's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it, and that is what my patients have taught me.

I ran from London to Manchester over seven days which equates to a marathon a day. Each day, I decided to wear an outfit to represent a different cancer. For example, I ran dressed in red with bright red lipstick for haematology cancers, dressed in purple to represent melanoma, ran in just my underwear to raise awareness about female cancers and wore a vest given to me by a Sarcoma patient.

The vest belonged to an amazing young guy who I had the privilege of caring for. He was previously fit and full of life but sadly lost his battle to Ewings Sarcoma in August. A couple of days before he passed away, he gave me his vest to run in and said "rock my vest."  His bravery, strength and courage were reminders of why I had set myself such a challenge.  When it got tough at times I felt like he was with me spiritually. 

My friends, family, colleagues and patients were all a great support throughout the week and their daily messages on social media were a real boost.  

My dad did a grand job of meticulously mapping the route and navigating me for 182 miles on his bike without a wrong turn. My mum did lots of baking which kept my sugar levels up and we named it 'rocket fuel'. It was definitely a team effort!

Cancer affects everyone in some way. I feel very privileged to work in one of leading cancer centres in the world. And I feel proud to be part of a team that provides patients with such high standards of care. But there is so much still to learn when it comes to treating cancer. 

The Christie charity is an integral part of The Christie and provides support above and beyond what the NHS can fund. 

I am therefore delighted to be supporting an exciting new campaign by The Christie charity. It’s called simply ‘I did it for The Christie’. Whether it’s baking a cake, jumping out of a plane, or running 7 marathons like I did, everyone in the North West can do something for The Christie and help make a difference to cancer patients’ lives across our region. 

The Christie charity provides enhanced services over and above what the NHS funds. Gifts from supporters make a huge difference to the care and treatment that The Christie is able to provide to cancer patients and their families. 

The new campaign, launched today, will help The Christie to reach new supporters and celebrate the fantastic achievements of thousands of Christie fundraisers.

Please share this blog and get your family and friends to support the campaign.

The Christie is incredibly close to my heart as I witness first-hand the bravery, courage and determination of my patients when life has become a real struggle for them. It is for this reason that I couldn't think of a more worthy charity to raise money for and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to do this challenge. 

Please visit the campaign website at www.christies.org/ididit

It is more important to me than ever that staff at The Christie get vaccinated against flu - Olivia Samuel

Olivia Samuel

Olivia Samuel, Christie patient and nurse

I am a 34 year old married mother of two. My oldest Ava is six and my youngest Finn is one. I work as a senior sister at The Christie and have worked here for over 10 years.

As a nurse it has always made sense to me to receive the flu vaccination, to protect myself from becoming ill and requiring time off work, but also to protect my patients from accidentally contracting the flu from me.

Every year around this time, I have been part of the team of nurses who offer and administer the flu vaccination to Christie staff. Part of this role has always been to help staff to understand the importance of having the vaccination, and encourage them to take it.

This year though, I won’t be part of the team of nurses vaccinating Christie staff. This is because at the beginning of May I experienced pain in my left arm and as I tried to establish the location, I came across a large lump deep down inside my armpit.

Running a busy ward and home and trying to prepare for a big brass band contest, I assumed that I was a bit run down and would soon come down with a virus.

After a few days I decided that a trip to the medical centre would be appropriate to 'rule out' anything nasty. On my second visit the GP alerted me to two breast lumps which came as quite a surprise. From here I was referred to the rapid breast clinic. This is the point where I diagnosed myself with breast cancer which I believed had spread to my lymph nodes.

Despite many peoples’ attempts at reassurance, I knew what this was. There was a painful two week wait to be seen at the breast clinic.

On the 18th May, I saw a breast surgeon who following examination performed an x-ray on the breast (a mammogram) and an ultrasound guided biopsy, which involved removing a sample of tissue from the breast and under arm lump for examination.

I went on to have a full body scan and bone scan to check for any further spread beyond my lymph nodes.

On the 3^rd of June, I was informed that I had stage 3 invasive breast cancer with extensive lymph node involvement. I was pleased to hear that the bone scan and body scan were clear. I didn’t feel like the diagnosis was much of a shock at this time, it was what I was expecting. It was incredibly difficult to deliver the news to my mum and dad and in particular my six year old daughter.

I was informed that I would need seven cycles of chemotherapy, followed by surgery, radiotherapy and then hormone therapy. I couldn’t believe that I would be going through the treatment I had watched so many of my patients go through.

I have taken time out of work to have this treatment and I am being treated at The Christie, I know I am in good hands.

Now that I find myself as the cancer patient and not the nurse, it is more important to me than ever that staff at The Christie get vaccinated against flu. I am pleased that The Christie takes such an active stance in vaccinating staff to protect them from getting flu and then risking passing it on to patients.

Since being diagnosed with cancer, I have become increasingly aware of my risk of infection from others, a situation that I can feel more in control of in my home environment by asking people to stay away if they are at all unwell. I don't have this control in hospital, so knowing that staff and volunteers I come into contact with have been vaccinated against flu helps puts my mind at rest. I spend so many of my days in bed recovering from the effects of the chemotherapy that getting flu would not only set me back with my treatment, but it could be life threatening to me.

Looking ahead I have nearly completed my chemotherapy and will have surgery and radiotherapy to follow. It is a long pathway of treatment but I hope to complete it and be back to work soon. And hopefully next year I’ll once again be part of the team vaccinating staff against the flu!

We can make a huge difference to the quality of life for patients suffering from lymphoedema after cancer - Lucie Casserley

Lucie Casserley, senior physiotherapist and lymphoedema specialist

Lucie Casserley

There’s something fundamentally fascinating about the mechanics of the human body and what you can do with it.

This captures the essence of why I chose to be a physiotherapist. The human body is an amazing thing. It’s a very finely tuned machine, like a car. But things can go wrong with the body, just like with a car. Wear and tear can be a problem and when things go wrong you need to call the mechanics in! 

I always wanted to work with people, but why physiotherapy? It’s a profession where you work so closely with people both physically and mentally and push them to reach their full potential which often can cause a clash of wills. It requires the patient to put a huge amount of trust in you, especially here at The Christie, and when a patient does that it’s an absolute honour. 

The best thing is I get to do this everyday, I’m not sure there’s a better job to have. I’m literally doing what I love and helping people - you can’t ask for more than that! 

Having been at The Christie for seven years I developed a keen interest in one particular area of physiotherapy, lymphoedema treatment. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s a chronic condition often caused as a side effect of cancer treatment, usually lymph node removal or radiotherapy. 

The lymphatic system is a network of vessels, it very much resembles a motorway network but lies just under the skin (as well as deeper). Its job is to collect excess fluid from around the body and return it to the blood via the lymph nodes. Think of these as recycling centres, of which you have hundreds at various motorway junctions around your body.  

Now when there’s an accident at one of these junctions, for example caused by the side effects of radiotherapy, debris covers the road and blocks the pathway. As a result traffic builds up as it can’t exit the motorway. That’s what lymphoedema is in a nutshell.  

In the past the swellings caused by lymphoedema could become so severe that they were labelled elephantitis and could cause major disfigurements. The so-called ‘elephant man’ was a very extreme example of this, but thankfully treatment is vastly improved today so this is now a thing of the past.

Here at The Christie I’m lucky to be part of an amazing team with three specialists, Julie, Paula and me plus our glamorous assistant Chris. We treat all patients with suspected lymphoedema caused by cancer or as a result of cancer treatment in any part of the body; be it arms, legs, breasts, genitals or the head and neck.

So if we go back to the motorway analogy, what exactly do I do when it comes to helping patients? 

Well I’m the traffic officer or your trusty sat nav. I redirect the traffic through smaller roads and breakdown or clear away any debris causing blockages. In the human body this means the lymph can flow freely once more.

Unfortunately, lymphoedema is not curable. We can assist in reducing the volume of lymphoedema to very mild, but there is always the potential for it to flare up again because the junction at that exit point is missing.

The light at the end of the tunnel for lymphoedema patients is that treatments are developing all the time and research is ongoing. A fairly new treatment is lymph node transplants. I was lucky enough to watch Mr Oudit, a plastic surgeon here at The Christie do one very recently, it was the first of its kind in the NHS  in this country. It was awe inspiring to watch.  

Mr Oudit has also done a liposuction recently to help a lymphoedema patient, because when lymph fluid stays in the same place for a prolonged period it can turn into fatty tissue. 

Both patients in these cases are ecstatic with the early results.

So what else can be done to help patients with lymphoedema? There are four key things that can help to control and mitigate the effects of lymphoedema.

1. Skincare is paramount. Dry cracked skin is an entry point for bacteria and infections which can worsen lymphoedema.
2. Exercise. Exercise encourages the contraction and relaxing of muscles and creates a pump effect pulling fluid into the body, although too much repetitive movement can overload the body and make the lymphoedema worse. So slow and graduated exercise is the key.
3. Compression. Specialist garments or bandaging for intensive treatment increase the pressure in the body’s tissues. This makes the muscle pump harder, moving fluid out of the affected areas and minimising further build-up or reflux.
4. Manual lymphatic drainage. This is a specialist form of massage completed by specialists. It works by increasing the rate at which lymph moves around the body and moves fluid from the swollen areas into working lymph nodes, where it can be drained. It also helps to break down fibrosis.

We have a wide range of other techniques that work alongside these treatments including deep oscillation therapy (DOT), kinesio taping, lymphotouch and soft tissue massage. 

Lymphoedema seems to be more in the spotlight at the moment and this is helping to raise awareness of the struggles cancer survivors with lymphoedema face. This is helping to bring investment into new services for patients. With the extra funding provided, we’ve been able to set up new satellite clinics at Bolton Hospice, Beechwood Cancer Care in Stockport and Cornerstones health centre in North Manchester to bring our patients more holistic and patient centred care, closer to their homes.

Since becoming a physio I’ve often heard us referred to as ‘physio-terrorists’. I guess some people dread having to see us because some of the treatments we do can be uncomfortable, as anyone who has ever had a bad back and seen a physio will know! 

But remember, we just want to help patients reach their full potential and that we regard their trust in us as a great honour. For patients suffering from lymphoedema after being treated for cancer what we do can make a huge difference to their quality of life. And when we help patients to achieve their full potential and results they never thought possible, we feel just as great about it as they do.

So don’t think of me as your physio, think of me as your mechanic!

The CONVERT trial has shown that the use of modern radiotherapy techniques is reducing side effects in small cell lung cancer patients - Professor Corinne Faivre-Finn

Corinne Faivre-Finn, Professor of thoracic radiation oncology and honorary consultant clinical oncologist 

Professor Corinne Faivre-Finn

I attended the international ASCO Cancer Conference this summer, where I was delighted and privileged to present the results of the CONVERT clinical trial that myself and colleagues from The Christie, the UK and around the world have been working on for nearly a decade. CONVERT is the largest study ever completed in this group of patients.  

The aim of CONVERT was to establish a standard combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in small cell lung cancer that hasn’t spread. Before this study it was unclear whether having radiotherapy once or twice a day helped more patients survive for longer and what level of side effects was expected with modern radiotherapy techniques.

Around 550 patients from around the world were split into two groups, one group received radiotherapy twice a day over three weeks (standard treatment) and the other once a day at a higher dose over six and a half weeks (experimental treatment). All patients also had chemotherapy. 

Colleagues from The University of Manchester, The Christie, around the UK, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Canada compared survival and side effects for both groups. The first patient was enrolled in the study in April 2008 and the last patient in November 2013. 

We found that small cell lung cancer patients live longer and with fewer side effects than previous studies.

The length of survival in both groups was similar with 56 per cent of patients who had radiotherapy twice a day surviving for two years compared with 51 per cent of those given it once a day. Importantly, the majority of side effects from radiotherapy were similar in both groups. 

Compared to previous studies, we found that half the number of patients than expected experienced complications that required a stay in hospital. This reduction in side-effects is likely to be due to the use of modern radiotherapy techniques.

We are very pleased that our results are providing robust evidence on the best way to treat small cell lung cancer that hasn’t spread outside the chest. Based on our findings, twice–daily radiotherapy with chemotherapy should continue to be considered the standard of care, as once-daily radiotherapy did not prove that survival improved compared to the standard twice-daily treatment. However, given the similar results in both groups it is reasonable to offer once daily radiotherapy if twice daily treatment cannot be delivered due to either patients or the hospital’s preference. Patients can now plan their treatment with their doctors according to what works best for them and their hospital.

Although the trial will still be following up patients for five years, the results are already changing clinical practice within the UK and internationally. We have received many testimonies from patients who are very grateful to be alive several years after receiving treatment. 

There have been too many people involved in CONVERT to thank them all individually, but this trial was a fantastic international collaboration that could not have achieved its results without the dedication, commitment and support of countless colleagues.  The study was funded by Cancer Research UK and was developed with, set-up and co-ordinated by the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre Clinical Trials Unit which is based here at The Christie.

More information about the CONVERT trial is available here.

For further information about Professor Corinne Faivre-Finn visit her consultant profile.

The power of small gestures - Graham Lamb

Graham Lamb, Cook Team Manager at The Christie

Graham Lamb

Small gestures can make a big difference - a simple smile and a thank you go a long way. As a member of the catering team at The Christie, we know this only too well, and will always go the extra mile to help our patients. 

What we do is a very important part of the patient experience, but working in a place where everyone has been touched by cancer can be even more rewarding.

That’s one of the reasons why The Christie has set up a serious of monthly meetings for its staff to discuss their feelings and to share their experiences. These meetings are called Schwartz Rounds and I was delighted to have been asked to give a presentation at one recently. The theme of the discussion was the ‘The Power of Small Gestures’. 

At first I struggled to think about what I should speak about. But then I started to think about what we in the catering department actually do on a day-to-day basis and how our department makes a difference to patients, visitors and staff. We do some pretty impressive things and we also understand the power of small gestures.

Every day we come to work and do our jobs but never take the time to appreciate how much hard work, care and dedication we put in, and it is only by reflecting on and talking about it through the Schwartz Rounds that we have the chance to stop and do that, which is quite an eye opening thing to do, and is also very cathartic.

Most people don’t realise how often we are asked to visit patients on the wards when they have specific dietary requirements, or because their treatments or personal preferences mean they can’t always find meals to suit their palate. We often tailor menus to suit individual patients and revisit them every couple of days to plan the meals for the following period. Simply by doing this we find patients are more open to discussing their meals and in some cases, when their preferences may seem a little strange, they feel more comfortable  speaking to us rather than the ward staff because often they haven’t considered the possibility that we can provide alternative choices outside of the standard menu.

Through visiting a ward we get to see a patient over a period of time. It’s very rewarding to see a noticeable improvement in a patient , especially those who are eating properly again through our input. The flip side of this is that it can be very upsetting in a small number of cases to see a patient continue to deteriorate, despite the best efforts of all the doctors and nurses, and of course our own team that works so hard to find choices of food that the patient will want to eat.

Simply by discussing and planning their meals with us, patients feel included and empowered and are more inclined to try and eat their meal because they have had an input into it. 

Through communicating, encouraging and involving the patients we know that we go the extra mile to offer the best service. It is always appreciated by the patients and when they say “thank you”, that gesture always makes what we do worthwhile, no matter how tiring the day has been, we focus on that gesture.

One example of how the catering team has gone the extra mile for patients was when a very poorly patient in the last days of life wanted to get married. We got a call at 11am that morning to say the wedding was taking place at lunchtime and could we provide a wedding buffet, including a wedding cake, to be served at 1pm. How could we refuse a request like that! 

So we pulled together as a team with all the usual mayhem going on around us and managed to deliver a wedding buffet as well as a cake with chocolate balloons, hearts and the couples’ names iced onto the cake. 

Knowing that we had done something so special for someone in their dying days was hugely rewarding and we know that most patients really appreciate that. It’s equally rewarding when the efforts we go to are recognised by our colleagues with a simple thank you – the power of small gestures really can make a big difference, but are all too easily overlooked!

Most people only see the ward service or the restaurant service and don’t appreciate what goes on behind the scenes to ensure those services are delivered on time. For example we serve around 1,500 meals per day to patients and staff, all freshly prepared and cooked on the premises. No microwave meals like a lot of hospitals serve to patients! It’s essential that we send the patient trolleys out to the wards on time and ensure the restaurant service is set up and ready to go each day. We often have buffets to do for meetings and the odd wedding breakfast to provide as well, so team work is essential.

So our days can be interspersed with ups and downs, positive and negative gestures, however, as always, a positive gesture from a patient cancels out anything negative about the day, making our jobs even more worthwhile, and giving us a great deal of job satisfaction. Working at The Christie and helping our patients really is a special experience. 

The Christie is like a jigsaw and we all make up that jigsaw, no matter what job we do. We all form part of that jigsaw and if any piece is missing, the jigsaw can never be completed. Each piece of the jigsaw is also like one of those small gestures, and without the thousands of small gestures everyday, our Christie jigsaw would be incomplete! 

This year’s Christie Will Week is more popular than ever - Caroline Harrington

Caroline Harrington, Partner, Furness Evans Solicitors 

Caroline Harrington

Like many people in the North West I’ve experienced the amazing staff at The Christie so it’s my pleasure to help fundraise so they can continue with their fantastic and necessary work.
  
Furness Evans is based in Cadishead and prides itself on being a local firm for local people. 

Our aim is to make our clients feel valued and know they can rely on us during difficult times.  

Cadishead has a strong community spirit and this was one of the reasons I chose to move to Furness Evans nearly four years ago.   

The people of Cadishead, Irlam and surrounding areas are extremely generous people and like nothing better than rallying around to help out. I believe this is one of the reasons why this year’s Christie Will Week is more popular than ever. 

To increase awareness of this year’s Make a Will Week I placed a small article in the local free magazine and the response has been overwhelming. I know I shouldn’t be surprised as it’s always been clear to me how generous the local community is but nevertheless I have been overwhelmed by the response.  

Make a Will Week enables me to draft wills free of charge, which in turn means my clients are free to donate my fee to The Christie.  

In light of this, I’m extending my availability to the following week and would urge people to prepare a will and help The Christie.  

Many people put off making a will – some feel it is tempting fate, that they don’t have enough money for it to be worthwhile or simply that they don’t know what is involved. 

Having a will is invaluable – it ensures your money is dealt with how you would want it to be and helps those left behind deal with the estate with your guidance.  

It’s such a good feeling to know that our firm is helping to make a difference.  During Make a Will week, I’ve been inspired and touched to hear people’s experience of The Christie.  

Even if the outcome wasn’t what they wanted, the facilities have been described as amazing with the level of care and support provided by the staff described as life affirming. It is a facility that we all hope we will never need to make use of but is there should we or one of our loved ones need to.  

I have to stop writing now as my phone has just rung - someone has nipped in to make an appointment for Make a Will Week! I hope to see you too – please feel free to give me a call or pop into our office to make an appointment.  

The Christie charity is a very inspirational place to work and is full of people who want to make a difference - Louise Stimson

Louise Stimson, Head of Fundraising, The Christie charity

Being a Manchester girl I am so proud to be the Head of Fundraising at The Christie charity. Friends and family members have passed through The Christie doors at one point or another, which made me more determined to work here.  

I am so pleased to be part of a much loved Manchester institution that helps so many people.

At The Christie charity we raise funds to provide services for patients that go above and beyond what the NHS is able to provide. Whether we are funding the art room or big construction projects such as the forthcoming Integrated Procedures Unit, our primary concern is ensuring that patients are able to receive the best treatment and care possible.  

When I started in my role a year ago, in September, I remember being really excited to work here. Meeting my team and other colleagues only reaffirmed that I had made the right move. The charity is a very inspirational place to work and is full of people who want to make a difference. I see this passion from our staff on a daily basis.

One of my first duties when I started was to host the ‘Walk of Hope’ at Tatton Park. Meeting so many inspirational people in one evening was quite overwhelming but it left such a positive impression on me.  

Walking through the corridors in the hospital and seeing patients being helped by our hospital staff reminds me why I’m here and constantly reignites my passion for raising those much needed funds.

People have many different reasons for fundraising for us, they might be receiving treatment here or might have been a patient themselves in the past. We also have lots of fundraisers who are the friends or relatives of someone who has been treated by The Christie. I hear wonderful stories from our supporters all the time about the excellent treatment and care they have had from the doctors and nurses.

Our supporters raised an amazing £15.9 million last year which is the most we have ever raised. It makes me so proud to head up this successful fundraising team which, through the money raised, makes such a huge difference to the lives of Christie patients.

This year we have introduced a number of exciting new events, one of them being the Fire Walk in March which definitely caught our supporters interest. As it was so popular we are hosting another one next March so sign up quick! As I’m not a runner or a cyclist, this event enabled me to participate in one of our sporting challenges. It was certainly nerve wracking to be the first person to walk across the coals that evening but I’m so glad to have taken part. My next challenge will be the Great North Swim next year and I will be starting my training soon!

We are a very fortunate charity as we have so many active supporters, but we need that support more than ever. We have exciting and ambitious plans for the future.

We want to be able to continue to bring more of the world’s leading cancer experts and their teams to Manchester as part of our academic investment plan focusing particularly on six identified themes - lung cancer, radiation therapy, haematological oncology, women’s cancer, melanoma and personalised/stratified cancer therapy.

We also plan to bring more state of the art innovative equipment to The Christie, including a revolutionary MR Linac scanner enabling experts to deliver more targeted, personalised and advanced radiotherapy for our patients.

We are also raising £4.8m to build an Integrated Procedure Unit. This development is needed to match demand for day case medical procedures such as minor surgery and endoscopies, which are all increasing. This will enable a patient’s treatment to be less fragmented across the site.

Our fundraising continues this year for a dedicated research room on our new proton beam therapy centre, and it is wonderful to see the build progressing so fast on the site. This year we will also be raising funds to replace the outdated patient entertainment system with a hospital wide, multi-media entertainment and information system. Our vision is that this will be a mobile ‘in-flight’ style infotainment service for both inpatients and outpatients.

We will be launching a new fundraising campaign in the autumn which I know will inspire more and more people to get involved with the charity. I can’t say much more about it at the moment but it’s all very exciting!  We are also so pleased this year to be able to announce that we are the official charity partner for the 2017 Great Manchester Run. We will have the partnership for the next three years and it also involves the introduction of a new half marathon on the same day! Soon we will also be announcing a new event that we will be hosting in March 2017 at Beetham Tower in Manchester City centre. Watch this space!

One thing I’ve learnt in this job is that there are always lots of great things going on at The Christie and lots to do to make sure we can fund them, but I know that my team and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s an absolute pleasure to do what we do and I’m very lucky to do this job.

I am so grateful that my oncologist and surgeon supported my decision to continue working - Geraldine Leydon

Geraldine Leydon, Christie Patient

Geraldine Leydon

I have just turned 50, feel very content and have so much to look forward to. My husband Tommy, our two girls and I are currently in New Zealand, part of a travelling fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to research international best practice in early years care and education.  

It seems a long, long time since the night in 2011 when my husband and I were given some difficult news that left us dazed, that I had cancer.

I had made a number of visits to my GP with what could in hindsight be described as atypical symptoms.  Eventually I happened upon Professor Gordon Carlson, who advised a precautionary colonoscopy. The colonoscopy helped to diagnose a very aggressive bowel cancer, more specifically a T4 N0 bowel cancer. 

It came as a huge shock at 45 years old, particularly as there was no previous history of cancer in my family.  

It was a trying circumstance for obvious reasons, which coincided with me changing jobs. 

In hindsight however, this proved to be a useful distraction from the ongoing treatment. My surgeon and oncologist were remarkably positive and motivating people, urging me to work as I wanted to and felt able. 

The new job, gave the family as a whole something else to focus on outside of the cancer bubble in which we felt encircled. Interestingly, I did not find that this was something that some people understood.   

Some people suggested that I might want to give up work. For me, I chose to work part-time, as that was right for my family and I at that point in our lives. 

I went to Salford Royal for my colorectal surgery under the care of Prof Carlson and the treatment was first rate. There were very structured and focused opportunities to prepare for what the treatment had in store for me. 

This was followed up with six months of chemotherapy at The Christie under the diligent care of Dr Mark Saunders. The Christie is an infamous institution and was known to me, as I am local to the hospital and passed it and its visitors regularly.  

Becoming one of ‘those people’ who needed to go there was one of the most unexpected and hardest feelings that I had to overcome.  However, those feelings passed remarkable quickly and my monthly visits became part of life’s routine.  

Now, five years on, I have gained a distinction in my Master’s in Education Degree and I have been accepted onto the Educational Doctorate. 

Most exciting of all is the travelling fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. I have travelled to Germany to observe a programme called Baby Watching and I am now in New Zealand visiting universities, the world famous Dunedin project and preschool settings working with the Te Whariki curriculum. 

Geraldine and family in New Zealand

I hope that cancer patients reading this will be inspired and that it will give them hope. I am so grateful that my oncologist and surgeon supported my decision to continue working. My work is my passion (family excluded) and I feel glad I did not give up work as that was the right decision for me.

And of course whilst I am in New Zealand and Australia with Tommy and my gorgeous girls we are having a little holiday!

Geraldine's blog is at http://eyfs.info/forums/topic/46559-travelling-fellowship-research-study-in-new-zealand-and-germany/