MY DREAM IS TO SAVE LIVES THROUGH EARLY CANCER DIAGNOSIS

This is the story about Joe and the moment that changed my life.

- DR. BEA BAKSHI

Joe was a 50-year-oldman who was previously fit and well. He was a marathon runner and had two young daughters. He started to feel unwell so he went to see his doctor over the course of six months. Despite lots of investigation and treatment, his doctors failed to find the cause of his symptoms.

In the emergency department, I had the unfortunate task of diagnosing Joe with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Joe died three weeks later after his diagnosis. While caring for Joe, at no point did he say, “Why was I diagnosed with cancer?” But instead, “Why was my cancer diagnosed so late?”

You see, one in two people by 2035 will be diagnosed with cancer. Currently, half of all patients are diagnosed in the late stage of the disease, and what that means is about 80 percent diagnosed late will die from the cancer.

Yet, if diagnosed early, 80 percent of patients will go on to survive 10 years or more from their cancer. Early cancer diagnosis is more successful than any cancer treatment in history.

Access to an early stage cancer diagnosis is not equal across the globe. Despite Western economies having a higher incidence of cancer, mortality rates are higher in patients with ethnic minority backgrounds and populations in countries where there may not be prevention and screening services.

We need equitable cancer protection as well as early cancer detection.