by Anne Condon, PRO for Relay for Life Donegal
Following the success of Relay for Life Donegal 2012 I have heard many people ask – where was our money spent?
Monies raised was sent to the Irish Cancer Society and they have given us the pertinent figures for 2012, just released. I think it makes interesting reading……
• Nursing Services: Night care in cancer patients own home during the last days of their life – 7350 nights of care provided nationally, 177 of these in Donegal provided for 41 cancer patients.
• Care to Drive: Free transport service whereby trained volunteer drivers bring cancer patients to and from their hospital treatment. 392 patients brought on 6,392 journeys nationally, 798 journeys for 26 patients in Donegal.
• Financial Aid: Grants for cancer patients who are experiencing financial hardship due to their cancer diagnosis. €1,047,461 nationally with €28,840 in Donegal.
• Counselling: €214,080 granted to support centres nationally with €11,520 going to counselling services in Letterkenny.
• Survivors Supporting Survivors: Connects someone going through a cancer diagnosis with someone who has been through a similar diagnosis and is several years post treatment. Trained volunteers in Donegal.
• Cancer Support Centres: Irish Cancer Society assists four Cancer Support centres in Donegal – Living Beyond Cancer based at Letterkenny General Hospital, Cancer Support and Social Club in Carndonagh, The Forge Support Group in Pettigo and Coiste Scaoil Saor o Ailse in Gweedore.
• Health Promotion: The Community Health Education Programme (CHEP) commenced this year and ICS has recruited and trained eight volunteers to provide key messages on cancer prevention and early detection in their own community in Donegal.
• Tackling Smoking: The X-Hale Youth Awards Programme was launched in 2011 giving local youth groups an opportunity to apply for a grant to fund their own anti-smoking campaign which they deliver directly to their peers in their own community. In 2012 two grants totalling €5000 were provided in Donegal.
• National Smokers Quit Line is a confidential service staffed by trained advisors and specialist smoking cessation counsellors, providing information, advice and support to people who want to quit smoking. 3502 calls received in 2012.
• Cancer Information Services Contacts and Interactions: A free service, staffed by specialist cancer nurses, providing advice and support to people concerned about cancer. During 2012 ICS nurses supported 28,383 enquiries, 218 of these from people in Donegal.
• Booklets and Leaflets: During 2012 ICS distributed 582986 cancer information booklets and fact sheets to people concerned about cancer across the county, 16,428 were sent to people in Donegal.
• www.cancer.ie provides a range of information to people with cancer, people who want to reduce their risk of getting cancer or people who want to fight back against cancer.
• Daffodil Centres: Daffodil Centres are the first service of this kind in Ireland. They provide support, within a hospital, to cancer patients, their family, friends and the general public – anyone who has any question or concern about cancer. There are currently eight Daffodil Centres in hospitals across the country and a new one due to be completed in Letterkenny General Hospital in the coming months – the recruitment process for staff and volunteers is in progress at the moment. ICS invests €125,000 in the set up of a centre plus €80,000 towards running costs per year.
• Research: Over the last 30 years ICS research has made over 650 discoveries. In 2012 ICS invested €2,590,175 in cancer research projects across the country. ICORG (All Ireland Co-Operative Oncology Research Group) is part funded by ICS and facilitates access to cutting edge research treatment in the form of clinical trials for Irish cancer patients. In 2012 ICS gave €317,500 to ICORG, 1,366 cancer patients participated in these trials in 15 hospitals around the country, including Donegal.
An example of Irish research is Dr. Aideen Ryan from Galway who was awarded funding by ICS in November and is conducting her research into colorectal and gastrointestinal cancer at NUI Galway. Dr. Ryan, her mentor and their team have already discovered that the body’s own immune system affects how colon cancer cells spread.
Cancer in Donegal
Most recent data from the National Cancer Registry shows that 26000 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2012, 919 of those were in Donegal. The most common cancers in Donegal in 2010 were 233 Non-Melanoma skin cancer, 92 breast cancer, 136 prostate cancer, 74 lung cancer, 62 bowel cancer and 16 melanoma skin cancer. Cancer will affect one in three people during the course of their lifetime however more are surviving cancer due to early detection and advances in treatment.
I for one am delighted to support Relay for Life Donegal 2013 as I want to play my part in helping to fund the work of Irish Cancer Society who are working to help us celebrate more birthdays.
Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.
For all enquires to Relay for Life Donegal please contact www.relayforlifedonegal@gmail.com
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