Harrogate man raising awareness of blood cancer after sudden death of wife
James Badger is also calling for more research to improve survival rates
A North Yorkshire man is encouraging people not to put off seeing their GP following the tragic death of his wife.
James Badger from Harrogate lost his wife Phillipa to leukaemia in 2022.
He's speaking out as research from Blood Cancer UK reveals survival rates in the UK are lagging behind other similar countries.
"It's really disappointing and I guess the encouragement for the nation, but for any individual is if you are at all worried, go and see your doctor and and don't wait. Don't put off getting checked out."
"If you've got a concern, go and see your GP. My GP was brilliant. She immediately referred my wife. She had treatment within hours and whilst very, very sadly in in my wife's case it didn't make a difference, in so many cases it will make a difference."
There are over 100 different types of blood cancer, including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma. The report from Blood Cancer UK includes new data from researchers at the University of Oxford showing at least 940,000 years of life were lost to blood cancer in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland over 10 years between 2009 and 20191. More than a third of these years lost – (330,675) - were people who died under the age of 65.
Drilling into the data, researchers found that survival varies by factors like social background. They found if everyone diagnosed with blood cancer in England had the same five-year survival of the most advantaged 20% of people, around 6,500 deaths could be avoided every year. Additional insight in the report also shows disparities in blood cancer outcomes depending on geographic location and ethnicity.
Speaking on the challenges and solutions Professor Adele Fielding, co-chair of the Blood Cancer UK taskforce and Professor of Haematology, University of York and Clinical Director of the Centre for Blood Research and Head of Experimental Medicine and Biomedicine, Hull York Medical School, said:
"We are all aware of the generic issues in the NHS which impact patients across all diseases. But for blood cancers in particular, the UK has started to fall behind the international standard in many and often very basic ways such as staffing levels, availability of new drugs and opening of new clinical trials. Coupled with a dwindling pipeline of UK clinical academics to conduct new research, I fear things may get worse. Patients often ask me if they could get better treatment in another country or if they could pay out of pocket for better drugs. I was proud of what we offered in the UK and I used to be able to reassure them they were always getting the best. That reassurance is often no longer possible.”