THE DESIGNATED WAITING ROOM WAS MORE OF A CORRIDOR REALLY, an allocated space which felt like a last-minute solution to one of a thousand problems in a hospital which clearly hadn’t been built to manage the sheer volume of people coming through its doors.
I sat with my grandad—Papa Frank to us—as he nervously waited for the routine checkup that he dutifully attended every six months, an NHS requirement since he’d been given the all clear following two years of treatment for nonHodgkin lymphoma.
Always the clown, he cracked jokes with the nurses who passed by and gave a familiar wave to the doctors who all knew him by name. They all remembered him clearly because of his sarcastic comments and quick one-liners, a quality which he’s still famous for even though it regularly gets him in hot water with his long-suffering wife. Even though his attitude seemed light-hearted to others, I could tell that the pain of dealing with cancer at the age of 80 had taken its toll, and this was simply his way of coping with a stressful situation. I held my breath as he was taken into the examination room and didn’t fully relax until we both left the hospital with another thumbs up from the specialist.
According to Cancer Research UK, the country saw 13,700 new cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2015 alone, not to mention the 30 other types of cancer cited on their website. Breast cancer is the most common form in the UK with over 54,000 new cases a year, meaning that one in eight women will be diagnosed with the condition in their lifetime. Men are most at risk of prostate cancer and there are over 47,000 new diagnoses every year, a number which has been steadily increasing since the 1990s. Charities such as Cancer Research are dedicated to raising money and in the past year they have spent £38m on drug trials. Depending on the type of cancer, survival rates can range between one and 98 percent, but overall death rates are predicted to fall by 15 percent by the year 2035 thanks to continued research and scientific studies.
Denne historien er fra August 2018-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August 2018-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.
May Fiction
An escaped slave's perspective renews Huckleberry Finn and the seconds tick down to nuclear Armageddon in Miriam Sallon’s top literary picks this month
Wine Not
In a time of warning studies about alcohol consumption, Paola Westbeek looks at non-alcoholic wines, how they taste and if they pair with food
Train Booking Hacks
With the cost of train travel seemingly always rising, Andy Webb gives some tips to save on ticket prices
JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Here, far from the crowds, in opal clarity, from May to September, the sun knows no rest. As soon as it’s about to set, it rises again
My Britain: Cheltenham
A YEAR IN CHELTENHAM sees a jazz festival, a science festival, a classical music festival and a literature festival. Few towns with 120,000 residents can boast such a huge cultural output!
GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB
Whether you love digging in the dirt, planting seeds and reaping the bounty that bursts forth, or find the whole idea of gardening intimidating, this spring offers the promise of a fresh start.
Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant
After working in TV and radio as an author and nutritionist, Suzi Grant started a blog alternativeageing.net) and an Instagram account alternativeageing). She talks to Ian Chaddock about positive ageing”
Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World
Sam Quek MBE is an Olympic gold medalwinning hockey player, team captain on A Question of Sport and host of podcast series Amazing Starts Here
Stand Tall, Ladies
Shorter men may be having their moment, but where are the tall women?
