Researching, running and raising awareness - all in a month's work!
March 2023
We’ve had a busy March marking Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month.
For anyone unfamiliar with the disease, Multiple Myeloma is a cancer of the white blood cells, which are called plasma cells. Their main function is to make antibodies that fight against infections in our body.
In Multiple Myeloma, these cells grow uncontrollably in the bone marrow and this leads to a variety of symptoms, including tiredness, bone pain and increased infections. The illness can progress very quickly, weakening bones all over the body and interfering with the production of healthy blood cells. If left untreated, it causes the immune system to fail, resulting in severe infections.
There are three-hundred new Multiple Myeloma cases diagnosed each year in Ireland. Currently, less than half of those affected (49%) will survive for five years after their diagnosis.
While there have been great improvements in the treatment of Multiple Myeloma, unfortunately it remains incurable. There are also fewer successful therapies for Multiple Myeloma than many other cancers.
In order to develop new treatments, it is necessary to make models of the disease in research laboratories. However, relative to cancers like breast and brain, there are still very few patient-relevant lab models of Multiple Myeloma.
With continued funding and awareness, we hope this will soon change for the better. As such, we are proud to fund Dr. Ann Hopkins and Prof. Siobhán Glavey at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) as part of the Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI)/Health Research Board (HRB) Joint Funding Scheme.
Using the joint expertise of a blood cancer clinician and a cancer scientist, this grant will supervise two projects to develop new experimental models of Multiple Myeloma and use them to test potential new treatments for the disease. This continued research gives us hope for a brighter future for those living with Multiple Myeloma.
Calling all running, walkers and joggers! Summer is just around the corner and so too is marathon season. In previous years we have been honoured to have people running and raising funds on behalf of Breakthrough Cancer Research, and hope that you will consider to run for team Breakthrough this year.
The Cork City Marathon is taking place on Sunday 4th June and caters for those wishing to take on a full marathon, half or 10k route. While taking place in the same day in Dublin is the VHI Women's Mini Marathon which is a 10k route.
We hope you will lace up your trainers and run for a reason this June, as you help us to #MakeMoreSurvivors
Many of our Public Patient Involvement (PPI) panel participants know only too well what it’s like to live with cancer. And for researchers, hearing people share their stories is invaluable.
It gives them a better understanding of the real, lived experience of someone who has had cancer, offering vital insights into the disease and all of its effects.
This is one of the reasons why it is so important to have patients involved in all the work that we do and fund. It is also where your crucial support comes into play, with your continuing efforts enabling us to host informative PPI panels on a regular basis.
Recently, a number of researchers and members of our PPI panel took part in a series of online communications workshops. The aim of this was to help ensure that our researchers know how to communicate details and information surrounding the projects they are working on, including what they hope to achieve, in a way that everyone understands.
We’re very thankful to all our PPI representatives who volunteered to share their thoughts with our researchers. Special thanks must go to Marian O’Mahony, who gave an insightful talk about her PPI and patient advocacy experience and shared helpful advice on incorporating PPI into research.
If you would like to get involved in Breakthrough’s Public and Patient Involvement Panel and help improve cancer research, treatments, and care (bearing in mind that you don’t need to have had cancer to do so), please contact Dr. Frances Drummond on 021-4226655 or frances@breakcancer.ie.
With Brain Cancer Awareness month also taking place in March, we want to help shine a light on the signs and symptoms of brain cancer.
In Ireland, approximately 480 people are diagnosed with brain tumours every year, with many developing secondary brain tumours arising from other cancer types. Statistics like this show the importance of being aware of the signs and symptoms of brain cancer in order to help detect it in its early stages.
Watch our video below to learn more about the signs and symptoms of brain cancer.
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