CITY MP Robin Walker paid a visit to Leukaemia CARE, a Worcester based national blood cancer charity, as part of Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer. The three main types of blood cancer include leukaemia, lymphoma, and myeloma, and are characterised by the particular blood cells that are affected.
Leukaemia CARE’s campaign for Blood Cancer Awareness Month is called Spot Leukaemia and encourages the public and health professionals to improve their understanding of leukaemia and its symptoms.
During his visit, Mr Walker spoke to Leukaemia CARE CEO, Monica Izmajlowicz, head of campaigns and advocacy Zack Pemberton-Whiteley and patient campaigner Kris Griffin about the latest campaign.
On average, a GP may encounter just one leukaemia case every four or five years, and the report discovered one in five patients visited their GP three or more times with symptoms before diagnosis.
Monica said: “It was fantastic to meet Mr Walker to share the work of the charity, as well as being able to pose the questions which are most pertinent to blood cancer patients at this time.
Mr Walker said: “Leukaemia Care is working incredibly hard to offer support to blood cancer patients as well as campaigning on the issues that really matter.
“As well as working with patients to provide valuable support and advice the charity is running campaigns to raise awareness of the symptoms of Leukaemia with doctors and patients alike, and I was impressed to hear of the impact of their ongoing Spot Leukaemia campaign.”
• Visit www.leukaemiacare.org.uk/spot-leukaemia to discover more about the Spot Leukaemia campaign.
