There is new hope for people diagnosed with brain tumours in Ireland. This a disease that impacts approximately 455 people in the country every year, with many more people developing secondary brain tumours arising from other cancers.
Professor Kathleen Bennett of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and her team has been awarded this year’s HRB-HRCI joint funding scheme grant with charity partner Breakthrough Cancer Research to progress new research into the rehabilitation needs of people with brain tumours in Ireland.
The research will guide effective rehabilitation services in Ireland to ensure people with brain tumours get the care they need for the challenges they face.
Mary O’Sullivan from Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry was diagnosed with a (benign) brain tumour in 2021. Commenting on this new research she said, “I had surgery on 20th April 2021 and things did not go according to plan. I spent nine weeks in hospital, and went in as one person but I came out a different person. I was left home from hospital completely in the dark. Nobody informed me about how I would feel when I got home. The fatigue was unbearable, my balance was so unsteady and I had brain fog so was unable to think properly, I felt like I had been left home to die. To make dinner was a big chore, so much so I would have to rest after making the dinner without eating it and once I got up I couldn't face eating which resulted in great weight loss. If I knew then what I know now, it would have made life so much easier for me and made my experience more acceptable for both me and my family.” I don’t know where I would be now without the rehabilitation care I received in Dun Laoghaire.
Commenting on her new research Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, but now what? Exploring the rehabilitation needs of people with brain tumours in Ireland, Professor Bennett said, “Brain tumours have a very high likelihood of causing long-term effects because of the impact of the tumour and the effects of surgical complications, the neurotoxic effects of radiation, and debility caused by chemotherapy. This can be the case even when the tumour is benign (tumour growth that does not invade nearby tissue or spread to other parts of the body).
“The tumours can shorten life span and cause many problems including muscle weakness, speech difficulties, loss of mobility and independence, difficulties thinking and remembering, and epilepsy. These have profound effects on the lives of patients and their families. Research tells us that such problems can respond to rehabilitation, but there is a significant lack of rehabilitation services for people with brain tumours in Ireland. Our Public and Patient Involvement work with brain tumour survivors has highlighted how difficult it is to find and access to rehabilitation services for their complex and lifelong needs. Our aim is to improve and guide effective rehabilitation services in Ireland, and I’m really grateful to Breakthrough Cancer Research and the Health Research Board for understanding the impact we could achieve for people with cancer.’
Would you like to help support our work and stay fit and healthy this September?
It is a challenge you can do whenever, and wherever suits you best during the month of September. Some people like to do a few kilometres a day, others do a few 5Ks, while some people opt to hike 10KMs over a few weekends. How you get to your 30KM is entirely up to you! Once you join the private Facebook group and register for your free t-shirt , this will arrive to you in the post along with a paper tracker so you can take note of your progress. We hope that you will consider joining team Breakthrough for this fun new challenge.
Your support will help us fund vital cancer research.
Q: What are your key goals/ambitions for the year ahead for Breakthrough Cancer Research?
A: Every year we try to build on the successes of the year before. We are funded entirely by the generosity of the public therefore while we start from zero every year, with nothing guaranteed, we challenge ourselves to always move forward to make new relationships and new opportunities to fund our cancer research programmes. We recently saw one of these research programmes, which aims to overcome resistance to chemotherapy, reach clinical trial. This has been generously supported by the general public for many years and despite the recent obstacles of Covid, it has finally moved from the lab to the patient clinic.
My main ambition for the year ahead is to get more people, companies and individuals to support this work. There are so many ideas out there that are waiting to be funded and my job is to get more people to help bring these ideas from the lab to treating the patients who need them most.
New and better ways to treat patients are urgently needed and we know the more funds we raise the faster we can fund these incredible projects that have such life-saving potential, not just here in Ireland but around the world.
Q: What are you most looking forward to Breakthrough Cancer Research achieving in the next 12 months?
A: Ultimately, seeing the research we fund discover new ways to benefit people with cancers is hugely exciting. Our focus is on finding new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat some of the hardest to treat cancers, and those with the lowest survival rates. The funds we raise each year allow us to invite the best and brightest researchers and clinicians to apply for grant funding to begin new research programmes. It is a rigorous process but it ensures only the best ideas are funded. When you see money raised from an event or a corporate partnership leading to scientists being hired and a new research project beginning it is hugely rewarding. Seeing a project then enter clinical trial is even more satisfying. Breakthrough has a very ambitious cancer research strategy and I look forward to seeing it come to fruition.
Q: If your dream goals are met in the next 12 months, what impact will that have on Breakthrough Cancer Research?
A: If my dream goals are met we will be able to fund more research to help to save lives. Research has already delivered so many advances for patients and more people are now surviving cancer than ever before but sadly there are still some cancers which have not yet seen the same improvements. These are the cancers we focus on knowing that each breakthrough will save lives. We need more research to do that and that research urgently needs more funding. It is as simple as that.
We start every year at zero and set out to raise more than the previous year to fund even more projects focussed on cancers with some of the lowest survival rates. We have already funded research that has led to eight new treatments that have progressed from an idea in a lab to clinical trial. These new breakthroughs don’t happen overnight and we know the more funds we raise, the faster we can accelerate this process to help make more survivors. That is impact.
BE SUN SMART!
In collaboration with the HSE’s National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), we wanted to remind people that using sunbeds increases the risk of developing skin cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has placed sunbeds in the highest cancer risk category, which means sunbeds cause skin cancer.
Research shows that sunbed use before the age of 35 increases risk of melanoma by 75%.
Sunbeds give out harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays that damage the DNA in skin cells. They can cause skin cancer, cataracts and skin to age prematurely, making it look coarse, leathery and wrinkled, as well as causing sunburn.
Shirley McEntee has kindly shared her story explaining how her skin cancer evolved into her lung, adrenal glands, ovaries, neck and brain, to help us understand the dangers of sun damage and artificial UV sources, such as sunbeds.
Watch Shirley McEntee's story and be aware of the risks.
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