Breast cancer patient raises £1,450 for Breast Cancer Care (From York Press)

Breast cancer patient raises £1,450 for Breast Cancer Care

10:29am Thursday 4th February 2010 in

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A BREAST cancer patient who is taking part in a drug trial at York Hospital has raised £1,450 for the charity that has helped her through her illness.

Kath Hudson, 59, was diagnosed with the disease last February after going for a routine mammogram at her local doctors’ surgery.

Within two weeks she had undergone surgery at York Hospital, and after a course of radiotherapy she is now free of cancer.

But to minimise the risk of the disease returning, Kath, who works as a part-time medical secretary, must take the drug Anastrozole in tablet form every day for the next five years.

She said she had opted to take part in one of York Hospital’s drug trials, which aims to find out whether the new drug is more effective than an older drug, Tamoxifen. She said: “I would definitely recommend taking part in a trial. It benefits me as a cancer patient because for five years I get check-ups every six months, so if the cancer comes back, it is going to be caught sooner.

“But also, if I can help somebody else in the future by trialling a new drug that might be better than the old drug, then I’m pleased to do that.”

Kath, who lives in Hutton Buscel, near Scarborough, with her husband, Pete, said she wanted to raise awareness of the importance of mammograms.

She said: “They found traces of cancer when I went for a routine mammogram. It was absolutely out of the blue. I asked them if I should have found something, but they said there was no visible lump or anything.

“I can’t sing the praises of mammograms enough – it could have been a very different story if I didn’t catch it so quickly.”

Kath and Pete, who have two children and four grandchildren, have now handed £1,450 to Breast Cancer Care – £600 of which was raised at Pete’s 60th birthday party, when he asked guests for donations rather than presents.

The rest of the money was raised at an event at the Vivaz nightclub in Scarborough.

240 patients join in trials

ABOUT 240 patients are taking part in drug trials at York Hospital.

These involve several different types of cancer, including breast, colorectal, urology, upper gastrointestinal (GI), lung, dermatology and haematology.

The research team at York Hospital consists of three research nurses and a clinical trial assistant and they work within strict clinical trial regulations to ensure the safety of all participants. Senior research nurse Hilary Campbell said: “We value the fantastic support we have from our trial participants without whom we would not be able to build on the evidence for introducing new cancer treatments worldwide.”

For more information, phone the oncology trials team on 01904 726488.