Counting Human Lives

How many lives were saved in September by Blood Cancer Awareness Month?

The truth is, of course, that we will never know. But I can't help wondering how many people will have seen some of the Blood Cancer Awareness publicity materials and decided to get checked out as a result?

A few times during the last month, I've heard people express some skepticism about the purpose or effectiveness of the initiative. So why do we persist in publicising and promoting the month?

Well...the reasons that the awareness month is so important are many, but let me address just a few.

1: If only I'd known

There are people wandering around with blood cancer who have no idea they have it. Take me, for example: I would never have thought of getting checked for blood cancer. My diagnosis came as a result of a blood test that was ordered as part of the investigations to see why I was experiencing episodes of acute pain. It was a complete accident that I found out. Of course, I was blessed that it was caught early enough for the medics to be able to weave their magic and keep me alive. But what if they hadn't? Would I still be here today?

Were there any signs? Well...no, not really. I did bruise quite easily but who (outside of the medical community) would know that might be an indicator of blood cancer?

So - I reckon there will be a whole swathe of our community who will have seen some of the material telling people what to look, and who will have gone to see their GP and got diagnosed, and as we all know, earlier diagnosis means greater treatment options. So there's a bunch of lives saved right there.

2: Better Awareness means Better Treatments

The fact is that when the blood cancer organisations hold campaigns like Blood Cancer Awareness Month, there is generally an upswing in donations to those groups, and those groups in turn provide funding for better treatments and research into cures.

I have been astonishingly lucky. When I was diagnosed, I was informed pretty much by everybody I consulted, that my life expectancy was 5-7 years. Here I am now almost 12 years down the line.

There is a simple reason for this. Treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) have exploded in the years since I was first diagnosed and people with my variant of CLL are living longer. Yes, sure - we still have the fatigue, repeated bouts of anaemia and a few other jolly japes but hey! We're alive and living reasonably full lives.

So - we know that there will be an upsiding in donations to blood cancer charities in September and that in turn will be channelled into better treatments and perhaps someday, a cure.

That's another bunch of lives saved there too.

3: Greater Understanding

Let's be honest. 99% of the time, if you saw me in the street, you would never know I had leukaemia. It rarely has any visible markers that demonstrate to people that the individual is very sick. Many of us experience fear of the unknown. We are scared of things we do not understand. There have been people who have positively avoided me since finding out I have cancer, as if there was a possible change I might infect them. There isn't, but they don't understand leukaemia and therefore they fear it.

So publicity that is put out in Blood Cancer Awareness Month is incredibly valuable in raising awareness - and understanding - of lymphocytic leukaemia and blood cancers generally.

We know there is a direct correlation between understanding/ knowledge and self-referral. So if greater publicity leads to greater understanding, and greater understanding leads more people to think maybe I should get checked, how many more people will that save? We can add that to our tally.

In writing all this, I have only thought about my own small community in m y little corner of the world here on the Hertfordshire/ Essex borders. But Blood Cancer Awareness Month is a global initiative, so extend that impact out across the whole globe - how many hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of people will have been saved by the impact of Blood Cancer Awareness Month?

But realistically, wouldn't it be worth it if it saved just one precious human life?

Stay Strong. Fight Hard. Laugh Lots.