The most important blog I'll ever post

 If you're a woman, you need to read this.  If you're not, if you have a family member who's a woman, you need to read it too!

The Walk for One Million takes place on Sunday 7th October 2012 at Knebworth Park.  It's all about Ovarian Cancer (OC).  OC kills over 6,500 women in the UK each year.  The survival rate is just 36% after five years. To put that into perspective, the five year survival rate for breast cancer is 85%, and quite rightly, the breast cancer charities aren't resting on their laurels!  As is so often the case, the key is early diagnosis and this is where there has been a big problem with OC. 

In 2005, my mother and my younger sister both died of OC, within seven weeks of each other.  My mother survived eight years after her diagnosis.  She didn't go through all the available treatments - by the time her cancer became resurgent, it just wasn't appropriate.  By contrast, my sister survived just about two years, despite accessing all the mainstream treatments and at least one experimental one too.  The difference, at least in part, was that my mother's GP was appreciably quicker to recognise the symptoms she was suffering and made an urgent referral to a consultant of the correct discipline, whereas my sister was less fortunate.  She was eventually referred to a gastro-enterologist, but without the urgency.  It was this consultant who realised who she needed to see and the disease was already well advanced.

This needs to change.  The purpose of the Walk is to raise awareness of the disease and its symptoms with the public and with the medical profession.  If women and those who treat them know the warning signs, there is a much better chance that sufferers will diagnosed quickly and receive life saving treatment.  Please take the time to read about it at this link and visit the links in the text:

Diagnosing and treating ovarian cancer

Can you help this link to go viral?  Think about tweeting, posting on facebook, linkedin, your own  blog or anywhere else. 

We shall also be raising funds for the continuing work of the charity in supporting sufferers and their families, raising awareness and researching treatments.  I shall be walking as part of the fifteen strong Team Sarah, remembering my sister, who died almost exactly seven years ago.  Please feel free to donate by visiting this link:

Donate to Target Ovarian Cancer

The popular press is getting a huge amount of flak these days for the misbehaviour of journalists.  It's only fair, therefore, to give credit where it's due.  The Daily Mail, in its Femail section, has been reporting regularly on the disease, it's symptoms and how it is dealt with.  I can't recommend it highly enough for its single minded determination to make a difference - why not make the time to read some of the articles they have produced?

The Daily Mail on Ovarian Cancer


Blog Disclaimer: Nothing in www.austinkempfamilylaw.blogspot.com blog should be construed as legal advice. If you require legal advice upon any family law related matter then you should instruct a solicitor. Any links to other blogs or web sites are provided for convenience only and Austin Kemp Solicitors cannot accept any responsibility for the contents of such linked blogs/sites.