‘King Charles’ diagnosis reminds us of how common cancer is’
King Charles has been diagnosed with a form of cancer which was discovered after a recent treatment for a benign enlarged prostate. The Palace has not said what type of cancer the King has been diagnosed with.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the ´óÏó´«Ã½ he's in "regular contact" with the King and is thankful the illness was "caught early".
In an exclusive 5 Live interview, Rishi Sunak was asked about the government not meeting its own cancer targets. He acknowledged that getting a cancer diagnosis is an anxious time for anyone.
"The most important thing we can do is to catch cancer as early as possible." He says his priority is rolling out cancer diagnostic centres, which are places outside of hospital where you can get your checks done.
5 Live has spoken to doctors and experts about early cancer diagnosis.
‘It's about early diagnosis’
Dr Hilary Williams is a consultant in medical oncology and Vice President for Wales at the Royal College of Physicians.
She reacted to King Charles’s cancer diagnosis: “Sadly, this is a common situation and I think it's really good that they've been open. But also, I'd just hope they are allowed a little bit of privacy and space because this is a really tough and shocking time for them all.”
Dr Williams explained that when someone has symptoms, and goes in for tests, body and CT scans or MRI scans, they don’t just look for one thing but they look for any other abnormality.
She highlighted that there are many different cancer treatments now as an option - for example - “Cancer drugs like chemotherapy, lots of new fantastic drugs, even immunotherapy, which is very clever and effective, or a course of radiotherapy.”
Dr Williams stressed that “it's about early diagnosis and one of the really exciting things is the genomics diagnosis”.
On cancer treatments she said: “Cancer treatments are really effective, but some people do get a lot of side effects. It can be a really long journey, it can impact on your income, your every day to day.”
Dr Williams explained what it’s like to break the news to patients: “It's really hard, often it's incredibly heart-breaking, however old people are. For a lot of people, it’s good news and things are treatable, but when it's not, it's a tough job and absolutely hats off to all my NHS colleagues who do such a fantastic job.”
‘Anyone experiencing symptoms that are worrying to them should go to the GP’
Dr Robin Muir is the head of Maggie's, Manchester. Queen Camilla is president of the charity.
He said that “King Charles’s diagnosis reminds us of how common cancer is”.
“It is something that we see every day.” Dr Muir said.
“That early diagnosis is so important to getting good quality treatment that hopefully will be curative and will see the King getting back to full health and getting back to his duties, which I'm sure he'll be keen to do.”
Dr Muir highlighted some of the most common types of cancer.
“Some of the largest tumour groups are breast cancer and prostate cancer in particular. These two are more easily treatable.”
“It's a reminder today if anybody is out there, that's experiencing symptoms that are worrying them to get along to the GP and have a conversation and also to engage in the screening programmes that we know are really vital to improving cancer statistics across the UK.”
“We like to try to encourage people to think about not getting too anxious about what can I do to stop cancer in my body, but more think about how we can all be as healthy and as well as possible, both physically and psychologically.”
So eating that varied diet, being physically active and connecting with the people around us are three really important things that all of us, whether we have a cancer diagnosis ourselves or we don't, are really important to maximising that wellbeing.
‘We need to start matching each person to the right treatment for them’
Dr Sam Godfrey is research information lead at Cancer Research UK.
He explained how varied cancer can be and that “we need to start matching each person to the right treatment.”
“One interesting treatment at the moment is immunotherapy where we use our body's own immune system to target cancer. It does that normally but then when cancer develops, it finds a trick to avoid the immune system.”
He highlighted the growth and development of the disease; “We are finally getting to the point where our knowledge, our technologies match up with our ambition to beat this disease and so is being referred to as a golden age of research.
“There's never going to be one treatment that deals with all cancers. But we are getting more and more different treatment options being developed,” he added.
“The earlier the diagnosis, the more treatment options there are. The more effective those treatments will be, the sooner someone can get on with their life.”
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