Grants keep clinic going through pandemic to help patients with painful side-effects after cancer treatment

A grant of £5,000 from the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund in Lancashire, plus £2,000 each from the Hospital Saturday Fund and the Harold and Alice Bridges Charity, have been

awarded to Rosemere Cancer Foundation for its Late Effects PRD (Pelvic Radiation Disease) Clinic.

The clinic is held at Rosemere Cancer Centre at the Royal Preston Hospital.

Last February, charity Rosemere Cancer Foundation committed to funding the set-up and running costs of the new clinic – a commitment of £283,521– for a pilot period to enable it prove

its case for permanent funding from the various local hospital trusts referring patients to it.

Approximately half of all patients who undergo radical radiotherapy to the pelvic area for cancers such as cervical, womb and other gynaecological cancers, prostate cancer and bowel

and bladder cancers, are likely to be left with life impacting side-effects.

Rosemere fundraiser Rebecca Arestidou has been applying for grants to help with the clinic’s costs and had already received a £7,876 grant from Lancashire’s ‘Lancashire Responding’

Covid-19 Community Support Fund.

She said: “Our priority was helping former cancer patients receive help for some really miserable symptoms, which in some cases they may have been putting up with for years, but which

can be treated to the point of cure or at least managed to make life better.

“We couldn’t have foreseen the impact of Covid-19, which has dented our ability to raise funds. We are therefore truly grateful to the trustees of the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund,

the Hospital Saturday Fund and the Harold and Alice Bridges Charity for recognising the clinic’s importance and for the grants they have given us to help keep it going into its second year.”

The side-effects post treatment can include incontinence, diarrhoea, constipation, excessive wind, bloating, tummy cramps and bleeding.

Rebecca added: “If you or anyone you know has undergone radical pelvic radiotherapy and have been left with side-effects, please seek a referral as there is no need to suffer in silence or

put up with ongoing pain and discomfort as a trade-off for being cancer- free.”

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