Fundraising update - London Marathon entry

Yesterday, whilst attending our Autumn Event, one of our professional colleagues told us that she has been successful in gaining a place in the London Marathon - a great feat in itself, let alone running the marathon.  She kindly informed us that she intended running for the support group!! We cannot tell you how grateful we are and are truly excited by this. A "just giving"page will be set up by our colleague if people wish to sponsor her and we will keep you up to date with her preparations in the run up to the event. We are expecting a very successful outcome as our colleague is a seasoned runner and competes every year in our own local Taunton Marathon with good times, hence the entry to the "Big One" in London.

As we get more details, we will post them here so keep coming back to see how things are progressing and hopefully we will be able to upload photos after the event.

Oh my.......

Well, what can we say other than a huge "thank you" to all of you who came today. There was well over a hundred attendees and we cannot tell you how lovely it was to see you.

We had some really exceptional speakers today who talked about travelling with a stoma, plus an update on the latest techniques in surgery, both of which were extremely interesting and informative talks. As always, their was a question and answer session with professionals made up from our local colorectal cancer team, which was again a lively session with some lovely ad-libbing from our very own chairman of the support group.

We also are delighted to tell you about the premiere of a DVD for newly diagnosed patients which has been made by the Trust in conjunction with Clinton Rogers (yes, the man on the telly) to help as you are diagnosed and need to know what is happening; it features real patients who have been there too, who kindly agreed to help in the making of such a thing possible; thank you.This was very well received and, indeed, we were able to introduce some of the stars of the DVD who attended today. Hollywood beckons!

Thank you also to Mr Colin Drummond, Chairman of Taunton & Somerset NHS Trust who has once again attended the event and stayed for the day with us, for the second year running. This really is very generous of you and is truly appreciated. Thank you also to our local Conservative MP, Rebecca Pow, for popping in to see us.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch provided by the Somerset Cricket Ground which allowed plenty of opportunity for us to mingle and catch up with you all, such a delightful part of the day.

We would like to take the time too, to say, a HUGE thank you to the couple who raised in excess of £1000 to donate to the group from the combined celebration for their respective milestone birthdays (both 21 again, of course!). This was a very generous gesture to make and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We also received an update on the Smarty Pants tubes that were introduced at last year's event. These have raised in excess of £700 pounds over the year, thank you. Once again there was a plentiful supply of tubes to be emptied of their original contents, to take away to continue this excellent idea for fundraising.

As we get to grips with technology we are hoping to be able to add presentations etc to the blog and the website, our sister presence on the net, so please keep visiting to be updated.

Looking forward to seeing you......

Well, we are really looking forward to seeing well over one hundred of you on Saturday and we are very excited. We do hope that you will like the programme we have put together. We are well supported with the local clinical teams/members of staff from our local Hospital. The support group will have a stand so please come up and say hello, or if you are interested in becoming more active in the group, we would love to hear from you. Once again we will have a raffle with some very fine offerings should you wish to try your luck with a ticket. 

We look forward to seeing you all there. Please can we just remind you to use the entrance on the Priory Bridge Road.

Date for your diary

Just a quick post to remind you that our Autumn Event is scheduled for Saturday 17th October at the Somerset County Cricket Ground in Taunton. We will soon be sending out invites and, if you would like to attend, then do please let us know for numbers and catering purposes on the telephone number below.
Once again we hope to have a packed programme for you and very much hope that you will join us.

Telephone: 01823 342452

Exciting news

We are excited to announce that the colorectal nursing team are piloting a cancer manual for patients living with and beyond cancer,  "So what do I do now; the Cancer Manual 1st Edition". This has been produced in collaboration with NHS Lothian based upon their Heart Manual. The aim of the manual is to assist patients to an improved quality of health, wellbeing and survivorship following their diagnosis of colorectal cancer. The pilot will run for 12 months with patients being asked to take part in the trial by receiving the manual, using it to assist/guide them to optimise their health whether they are post surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or living with cancer. As part of the trial you will also be asked to give feedback on the content of the manual and the interval at which you received it by undertaking two questionnaires at set intervals.

If you meet any of these criteria, or indeed are interested to know if you do, please contact the colorectal nursing team on 01823 342452, who will be happy to discuss this with you.

We have attached the link to the NHS Lothian website for you to browse;

http://www.theheartmanual.com/News/LatestNews/Pages/ProgrammeCancerPatients.aspx

Poetry.....

We were recently sent this poem by a delightful lady who has an amazing joie de vivre for life despite her health problems;

Try to remember the good times
Erase from your mind all the bad.
Think of the times you were happy,
Not of the ones you were sad.

Bury the hurts you were given
Banish them deep underground;
The past is a patchwork of memories
Treasure the bright squares you have found.

You may regret what has happened,
You may deplore what is past
But make happy memories tomorrow
And pray they're the ones that will last.

What words of wisdom for us all. It is all so easy to get mixed up in the emotions of anger, frustration, despair but to forget the pleasure in the simple things in life. Nothing feels better than the joy of a new day, long summer evenings, sun ripened strawberries, being with those we love. In the words of Maya Angelou, 

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember, your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome".

Therefore, in the words of Friedrich Nietzsche " Life is not a dress rehearsal. This is it". So enjoy every moment, as recommended by Bill Watersono when he says “We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.”  That's now he is talking about.

Golden Wedding donation

We would like to say a huge "thank you" to Mary and Michael Graham who celebrated their Golden Wedding on 22nd August 2014. They have made a large donation to the group having raised money for us from this celebration. That is a truly wonderful thing to have done and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Not only this but their Grandaughter will also be raising funds for charity when she undertakes a gruelling cycle ride later this year.

The happy couple are pictured below cutting their cake.

Thank you so much to this "golden" couple for their generosity.