Best of luck and many thanks to Elliott Brown, who will be throwing himself out of a plane at 13,000 feet, and raising money for the NET Patient Foundation.

Please show your support by donating at his Just Giving page:

http://www.justgiving.com/parachute4pounds

Have a look at it here:

Here’s why Bernie is running:

“As many of you will know my Sister, Mandy was diagnosed with cancer in November.  Whilst this has been a massive shock to her and everyone around her, it is something she is slowly coming to terms with and is determined to fight - with the support of her family and friends.

The type of tumour Mandy has is rare and doesn’t always respond to traditional methods of treatment – one of the things that has shocked Mandy is the fact that there is not as much research into rarer cancers as there is into the more common ones.  With this in mind I have decided to run the Bristol 10K run for the Net Patient Foundation, which is an organisation that offers support, guidance and information to people with rarer cancers, in particular Carcinoid tumours.

I have always thought that cancer gives you two options – be treated and get cured or there is nothing that can be done, however I realise now that there are other options and many people live normal lives living with cancer.  Organisations like the Net Patient Foundation make this easier for thousands of people every year, but like all charities (especially the smaller ones) they need donations to continue their fantastic work.

Therefore please donate whatever you can – it is definitely for a worthy cause.”

Bernie’s justgiving page is at http://www.justgiving.com/Bernie-McGrath

I am running the Belfast City Marathon on 3rd May 2010 in aid of Net Patient Foundation. A very close friend of mine has sampled first hand how the devastating affects of Neuroendocrine Tumours and in particular Carcinoids can impact a family, after her lovely mum sadly passed away in November 2006, aged just 49. Leaving behind a beautiful daughter, son, husband and grandson. I met Lorna only a few times before she passed away but she was a very kind, loving and warm lady and was always very welcoming. So in her memory, I am running this race.

I have always wanted to run a marathon and now is as good as time as any and what better way to raise awareness for the charity than through Just Giving.

So please guys, dig deep for this very good cause and help Net Patient foundation raise much needed funds to develop further knowledge into this uncommon killer. Every penny counts.

In loving memory of Lorna Jean Johnson
18th July 1957 – 21st November 2006

Please show your support for Louise by visiting her justgiving page at  http://www.justgiving.com/louisemcateer

Many thanks for the fantastic response to our request. You’ve sent us back lots of questionnaires, which are now being used to compile the first booklet on Diagnosis. In February, we’ll be requesting your help again for the next booklet, which will be about Living with a Rarer Cancer.

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Patient Experience Booklets

We are currently putting together a series of booklets in conjunction with the Rarer Cancers Forum, entitled “Patient Experiences”.

As well as containing expert material from psychologists and clinicians, these booklets will contain the experiences of patients, their families and carers. We hope that by sharing these stories, we will be able to illustrate the range of different emotions that people experience at different stages of their journey with a rarer cancer. We hope that this, in turn, will offer comfort and support to the reader, and will help to make them feel that they are not alone, and that all of their feelings are natural.

The first booklet will be about DIAGNOSIS, and I am URGENTLY looking for a group of patients who would be prepared to fill in a questionnaire about their experiences relating to diagnosis.  There is also a questionnaire for friends and family members, who are also deeply affected by a cancer diagnosis.

I’m on a really tight deadline, so hoping to receive some completed questionnaires by the beginning of next week. I’d be really grateful if you and/or some of your family members could take a few moments this week to share some of your experiences with me.

All information will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. We will attach name, age and type of cancer to each patient story, but will happily change these details if required.

I’m trying to complete the first booklet by the end of January, so am up against a tight deadline. The next two booklets, which will address “Living with Cancer” and “The End of Treatment”, will be written over the coming months, and I will also be looking for patients to help me with these.

The booklets will be available as downloadable PDFs as well as hard copies, and they will be available to any individual or organisation who wishes to use them.

We’re hoping that, as well as being a source of comfort and support to patients, these booklets may also help us to raise awareness of some of the inequalities faced by rarer cancers patients.

If you would be happy to help, please contact me on 07595 068998 or maiasissons@me.com and I will send you a questionnaire. The questionnaires are also available to download below. If you click on them once, they should appear in your download folder.

Thank you!

FAMILY QUESTIONNAIRE PATIENT QUESTIONNAIRE

Constitution Document Amended Feb 06

A big thank you to Jamie and Jordan, who will be running the Milton Keynes Half Marathon on Sunday 7th March. Here Jamie tells us why he’s raising money for the Foundation:

‘Laura, my beautiful wife was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine cancer in September 2008 and her condition has been stabilised fantastically well by the wonderful staff at The Royal Free Hospital. Throughout this time The NET Patient Foundation  ) has been a great point for information and support through the website and forum. They rely solely on patients and their friends and families to raise funds to help to support them following a diagnosis, and importantly to continue its valuable research.

We will be running the 2010 Milton Keynes half marathon on Sunday March 7th, well Jord will and I’ll be what they call dragging my butt around the course attempting to catch him.

So please show Jord and me your support. Come down to Willen Lake and have a laugh but more importantly, make a pledge at http://www.justgiving.com/Jamie-Williams1

Please please dig deep and donate now.

Cheers

Jamie’

Abigail had a wonderful time, and came 2067th out of 15,000. Well done!

To donate, please visit her JustGiving page at:

http://www.justgiving.com/Abigail-Gayer