Quick update

HI All,

Just a very quick update on what's been going on.

We had a great time doing the Wirral Coastal walk and hopefully have raised a good amount of money. I had just over £300 in sponsorship, the last of which I need to collect in. My sister Jane and two of her boys, Matthew and John came along and they're also collecting their sponsorship in, thank you to them for coming along and supporting us. One of our students, Sharon, persuaded her husband to take part on our behalf so a HUGE thank you to him for walking 15 miles to help to raise funds for Clatterbridge Cancer Charity.

Here's my sister, plus boys, Angela on the right and me sporting a very fetching little hat that my sister kindly lent me. I suspect it belonged to a 5 year old in a previous life!

Angela and Flora. Angela is probably trying to work out how to work her mobile phone! ;))

The 3 of us with Flora's friend Rose who joined us for part of the walk. She brought chocolate biscuits so was a VERY popular lady!

Angela and Flora were busy with their choir for a weekend, on tour in Yorkshire. They did a raffle on tour and I think they told me they raised £70, I'll check to make sure I've got that right.

Last Friday my 2 eldest boys, Sam and Jason went along to our local Tesco store and started off a bucket collection for me, standing around in CCC T-shirts for 3 hours, looking appealing. I took over from them for a couple of hours and Flora and Angela were able to make it for the end of the day, after work. We're waiting to find out the total for that. I was really pleased that my sons were willing to take part, so thanks to Sam and Jason. Also thanks to the very generous customers at the store , many of whom stopped to offer their support to us.

This last weekend we did another car boot sale and raised £125. The weather was beautiful and I completely forgot to put any sun cream on before standing out in the sun for 4 hours. By the end of the day I had a lovely, bright red nose and the left side of my face glowed a lot! The right side had faced away from the sun so I ended up looking like an extra from the Close Encounters film!

My colleagues in Clinical Education at CCC took pity on me as I've had a busy few weeks and ran a cake sale for us yesterday. They baked and trawled their goods around CCC, raising £76, which is fab and we're really thrilled!

This weekend will be BUSY! Saturday morning a group of us are abseiling at Loggerheads in North Wales. We're then heading up Moel Fammau in the afternoon for what should be a lovely walk in the sunshine. Suncream at the ready!!! On Sunday morning I'm joining lots of Wirralians to do the Wirral Bikeathon which is an annual event raising money for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma charity. My late Dad's fiancee, Jenny, sadly passed away last week having been poorly for over a year with Myeloma, which is a form of haematological cancer. So I'll be thinking of her while I'm pedalling. Sunday afternoon we'll be meeting up at the Wro in West Kirby where Sally, the owner, has helped to put on a fundraising strawberry tea. That should be lovely although I may need to lie down to rest my soorly bottom by then!

I'll make sure we get lots of pictures of our activities to post next week.

TTFN, Pauline.

Fundraising progress

HI All,
I haven't posted for a while as it's felt like we've all been constantly busy. We're feeling like we're really getting somewhere from a fundraising point of view and our fitness efforts seem to be paying off too.

We last walked together a weeks weeks ago when we started at 8 a.m. at Parkgate on the Dee side of the Wirral and walked inland with the aim of heading across to Eastham on the Mersey shoreline. It was a really pleasant walk and was meant to be 11.5 miles. Of course we got lost which meant it took us extra time, plus of course we had to stop for a very nice coffee in the tea shop in Willaston. Highly recommended when you've been walking for a couple of hours!

We passed through Raby Mere and stopped to say hello to the ducks. What a shame they don't rent out rowing boats on the mere any more that would have been a laugh as well as being a workout opportunity! When I was a kid and the roads were a lot quieter on a Sunday we used to cycle to Raby Mere and have a picnic by the stream.

Angela contemplating!

Unfortunately, due to the fact that we don't walk that fast and we got lost a couple of times we ran out of time! I needed to get back to take my smallest to the cinema and Angela needed to transport her son to a rugby match. So after walking 11 miles we called it a day in Bromborough and Flora's daughter Sara came to pick us up and take us back to our starting point in Parkgate to retrieve our cars. While we were waiting to be picked up I popped into the DW sports club and picked up some free one day passes that they were donating for us to raffle off. So a big thank you to them! The Smyth's toyshop in Bromborough also donated a nice big toy for our fundraising efforts. The staff in there were really happy to help.

Things seem to be going well with the fundraising and we raised £167 on Sunday morning at a car boot sale. Lots of friends, family and colleagues have donated their cast offs for us to sell and we've still got enough stuff to do another couple of sales. Our schedule has got pretty hectic and plans include:

19/05/13: Wirral coastal Walk, all sponsorship gratefully received!
02/06/13: Car boot sale
08/06/13: Re-arranged adventure day, come and abseil and have a hike up Moel Famau
09/06/13: Wirral Bikeathon, this is run for the leukemia and lymphoma society
09/06/13: Strawberry tea at the Wro in West Kirby, many thanks for their support!
16/06/13: Car boot sale
22/06/13: Charity party night at the Irby Club, thanks for their support!
30/06/13: Car boot sale
07/07/13: Liverpool to Chester Bike Ride, I'm considering doing this, haven't committed yet!
14/07/13: Bag pack at Morrisons in West Kirby, thanks for their support.
21/07/13: Bag pack at Morrison's, thanks again!
11/08/13: What sounds like an amazing and eclectic show at the bombed out church in Liverpool, lots of performance, stalls, food and drink. probably 2-7p.m.
17/08/13: Bag packing at Marks and Spencer's food court, Cheshire Oaks. Thanks to them for their support.
21/09/13: Bag packing at Sainsbury's, Neston hopefully with help from Neston Air cadets. Thanks to Sainsbury's and the cadets for their support.

From the beginning of September we'll have 10 weeks to go before the trek and intend to have a really big push on the fitness front to make sure we're ready for the challenge. Just to brag, my Weight Watching is going very well and I've lost more than 10% of my body weight since the beginning of Feb so I'm feeling very much more energetic!

Better dash to take the dogs out and get ready for work!

TTFN, Pauline.

Trekking timetable!

I said last week that I'd tell you more about the actual trek so here goes:

Day 1- Fly from Heathrow arriving in Amman, Jordan in the late evening. Stay overnight in accomodation near the Dead Sea


http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/deadsea.html



Day 2- Relaxed start to the day to allow the oportunity to acclimatise (phew!). We can bathe in the Dead Sea in the morning although one of my colleagues assures me the flies on the shore are just terrible!

http://www.viphealthholidays.co.uk/introduction.html

Obviously I will look like the above lady and not like a floundering hippo!

After lunch we're transferred by coach to Wadi Arava which is the valley that connects the Dead sea and the Red Sea. This is the starting point for our trek. At some point during the coach transfer we get out and hike for an hour and a half through the canyon of Wadi Kudeira which is apparently very impressive with steep canyon walls and a slow flowing stream. The last part of the transfer is by Bedoiun trucks to our overnight camp next to the biblical Feinan copper mines.

http://www.travelexplorations.com/fairytale-adventure-by-experiencing-jordans-wonders-which-are-inscribed-on-unescos-world-heritage-list-petra-quseir-amra-and-um-er-rasas-kastrom-mefaa.270585-17545.html

Archeological remains at Feinan

Day 3- Today we'll trek for 8 hours covering 17km from Feinan to Faron. This takes us from the valley floor at 200m to 1350m. Apparently we'll go through a number of climate zones and across a variey of rock formations and strata. I have a habit of falling over, so keep your fingers crossed for me. It would seem that we'll trek up about the equivalent of Snowdon. So we're intending to conquer Snowdon before we go to Jordan to reassure ourselves that we won't collapse part way up! We follow trails through wild Bedouin country (I'm back to Jordan now!) and will occasionally see views of the Wadi Arava border area. Half way through the day we'll reach the Roman copper smelting site of Um el Amad which is another part of the Feinan complex where we'll be able to see visible signs of the ancient slave labour camps.

http://www.flickriver.com/places/Jordan/'Amman/Umm+al+Amad/

After this point the scenery will change and we'll reach an area of white sandstone domes, with regular patches of juniper trees (thank goodness as I'm bound to be desperate for the loo by then, the kitlist specifies toilet roll and matches to burn it with! Eww!!!). It would seem there used to be a juniper forest covering this area. We'll begin to see Bedouin encampments as we climb higher into the black mountains and will eventually reach our campsite. Thank goodness, I'll be totally knackered by then!

Day 4- Another 8 hours trekking today will take us from Faron to Um Elalda, once again covering 17kms. We stay on high ground following Bedouin donkey trails which take us over ridges and into gullies. This area is descrbed in the trek info as vast, barren, rugged and incredibly beautiful. We'll see very few Bedouin dwellings on this day as this area is sparsely populated. Occasionally we'll be able to catch a glimpse of the Shaubak castle which was built by the Crusaders and towers over this area. It was built to protect the King's highway, this desert road was used through biblical, Roman, crusader and Ottoman eras. Our night time stop will be at Um Elalda.

http://klh-pjo.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/day-5-mt-nebo-madaba-st-george-church.html

Day5- Today we only have to walk for 7 hours to travel the 15kms from Um Elalda to Moeesra, so an easy day then! The terrain is similar to the day before and part way through the trek we will arrive at Beidah which is also known as Little Petra. This site is thought to have been  the major 'caravanserai' or fortified resting place of the Nabataean capital. The info describes this area as an archeological wonderland, in a hidden valley, amid white domes of sandstone which will leave an ever lasting impression! After descending into this valley we continue for a further hour to reach our night's camp site.

http://www.navtravels.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=127&catid=46&Itemid=116

Day 6- Today we will travel 13kms to reach Petra, entering the world heritage site from the lesser used eastern approach near to the ancient monastery.The views from this ridge are described as staggering.

http://gingerandscotch.com/2009/01/jordan1.html

We're able to explore Petra, including climbing to the high place of sacrifice which sounds a bit off putting! At the end of our visit we will see the treasury carved out of the rose sandstone which the guide describes as leaving the best till last.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra

From here we exit the site through the 1200m long canyon which is the more common entry point for visitors to Petra.

http://www.primeau-canada.com/jordan-petra.html

We then reach the village of Wadi Musa where not only do we have a proper bed for the night but we can also visit a Turkish bath! By this point I would imagine we'll pong a bit so that sounds really attractive!!!

This will be us!!!

Day 7- This is a touristy day when we can choose to revisit Petra or we can visit Wadi Rum which is another world heritage site and apparently very beautiful. That evening we get a celebration dinner in a local restaurant which includes a glass of wine!!! Woohoo!!!

The Seven Pilars of Wisdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum

Nabatean Temple at Wadi Rum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum

Day 8- We have to go home! We get an early morning transfer to Amman and fly back to Heathrow.

Cheshire day out

This week the three of us set off on Saturday morning in Flora's camper van for an 11 mile walk in Cheshire. We arrived at about 10.30 and parked up by the Pheasant Inn and the Candle factory near Beeston. Flora had found a route on tinternet which followed some of the Sandstone trail and sounded very pleasant. Unfortunately, as is often the case with descriptions of walks, the actual walking of it wasn't quite so straight forward as it sounded. Hence after the first half hour or so we were lost! We figured out later that where the description blithley directed us to continue on a path for 4 miles until we reached a castle, it had failed to mention that we'd better turn right or we'd end up going completely the wrong way. So we ended up wandering along a very busy main road for a while which was a little hairy and involved us very nearly getting squished by some fast moving lorries! The highlight of nearly ending up as roadkill was coming across 2 donkeys in a field. It would seem Angela is very keen on donkeys and she made a beeline for their field when we spotted the first one. However, it turned out that donkeys aren't so keen on Angela! Said donkey started to hee haw its head off in what looked like distress of some sort and legged it across the field to its friend, they then both ran in the opposite direction as Ange approached to say hello. Ange was then highly offended when they indulged in what nature intended and we took that to be our cue to move on!

Just in case you're unfamiliar with donkeys here's two which are based in a Derbyshire Donkey Sanctuary

http://drupal.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/node/2971

We were fortunate enough to then come across a map of the sandstone trail and associated paths, from which we realised we were heading in the wrong direction. We turned around and repeated our getting squished trip along the road. When we finally made it back to the route we were supposed to be on we realised we were running out of time and had to abandon half the walk and head back to where we'd parked up. The rest of the route, which we managed to follow without incident, was very pleasant. We followed the directions up to Rawhead which is the highest point on the Sandstone trail so at least we did some up hill and down dale to prepare for Jordan.

We were really surprised to find there were some quite big snow drifts still around which, of course, I was obliged to trek across ;)

The views from our elevation across the Cheshire plain were quite impressive...

We made it back to the Pheasant Inn having only walked, a disappointing, 5.5 miles. We were even more put out to find that the Pheasant was heaving and we couldn't even get a seat for a coffee. We consoled ourselves with a cuppa in Flora's camper which was very nice and where we didn't feel scruffy in comparison to the Cheshire set!

Flora and Angela have managed to write off to a number of companies and football teams asking for sponsorship and/or the opportunity to shake our buckets on their premises. Flora wrote to Manchester United and Man City and emphasised she was talking about buckets and not buttocks!!! We were all delighted to get a date for a bag pack at Marks and Spencer's at Cheshire Oaks. That's on August 17th, so if anyone would like to help out please let us know. Alternatively, come along, buy some M+S food and chuck money in our buckets.

My plan to walk the dogs each morning before work went okay except for Tuesday when I needed to be in work early to pack up my office to move out before we're refurbished and Wednesday when I was in Hertfordshire. The dogs seemed to enjoy their walks and my husband also enjoyed his first week back in work, so it was a success all round! I'll let you know whether I manage to prise myself out of bed this week too. I'm intending to try Tai Chi again this week and am hoping that, as I've improved my general fitness since the last time I tried it, perhaps the warm up won't nearly kill me this time!

Next week I will definitely tell you more about the route our trek will take so you'll have more of an idea about what we're going to be doing.

TTFN, Pauline.







Easter frolics!

This last fortnight hasn't been very successful for me from an exercise and diet point of view as I've been a bit snowed under at work and everything else has taken a bit of a back seat. Angela and Flora (who I'm sure are also busy!) have managed to put a lot more into the exercise and activity. Things started well on the Saturday of Easter weekend when we met up and walked 9.8 miles from Hoylake to New Brighton along the Wirral coastal path. It was jolly cold but it was good to get out and blow the cobwebs away and we all felt like we'd achieved something at the end of it, despite aching a bit!

We even found some sand to trek across!

 The following day I went off to York with my family and didn't do a great deal of activity there, although it was very nice and I enjoyed visiting the Jorvik centre. I ached quite a bit after Saturday's walk so was very impressed to find that Angela had rushed up Moel Famau on Easter Sunday! Here's what she had to say about it:

'Trying to keep up the good work so when Sonia and Mart, my brother in law and his wife, asked us if we wanted to go up Moel Famau I was there like a shot. It was a lovely day yesterday but very very cold. Lots of people and lots of snow at Moel Famau so in parts it was difficult to walk because it was icy. The scenery was lovely and we could see Snowdon was covered in thick snow. Great views when we got to the top, unfortunately no loos! Slid our way back down to the car park. Enjoyed my cuppa when I got home. No doubt I will be back again before too long. A good training for the trek day!'

Flora has been out on her bike along the Wirral Way with her daughter and this weekend has been to Hayfield near Glossop where she visited Kinder Reservoir with her husband Amir:

 

 

 



I used my trekking prep as the perfect excuse to buy myself a new pair of boots. After a bit of research I found a pair which were no 2 in the Independent Top 10 women's walking boots list, on sale for £29.99, bonus! I was very pleased with myself :)

 

 

I set off this morning for a walk with the dogs across the fields which were horribly muddy last time I ventured out that way. They were much better today although the bridleways were still muddy and churned up.

 

 

My walking companions for the day, Flora and Angela were looking a little ruff!!! :D

 

 

I was merrily trogging along, apart from the occasional pause to poop scoop and was quite pleased as I was making good progress, mostly due to my badly behaved dogs dragging me along. Then Jessie, the beagle, started to limp a little and I thought for a while that I was going to have to pick the big fat thing up and carry her across the fields. That would certainly have been a workout and a half! No sooner had Jessie stopped limping than my toes started to get cramp in them and it was agony! That'll teach me to set off on what was meant to be a 2.5 hour walk in new boots. So I ended up calling my husband and getting him to pick us up after we'd only walked for about 1 hour 45 mins. Never mind, at least I got out, but it wasn't the 4 hour trek that the training programme says we're meant to be doing!

 

Our fund raising efforts have gathered momentum over the last couple of weeks. Lots of people seem to be having spring clear outs and Gill Hart, Catherine Jones, Sarah Vye and Kathy Burgess have all given us lovely stuff to sell on either eBay or at a car boot sale. We've all made progress organising supermarket bag packs which can raise, what sounds like, an awful lot of money! I ran a couple of sweepstakes for the Grand National and was very grateful to my work mates, neighbours and family for taking part. We raised £30 with the two sweepstakes, my husband donated his £5 winnings and my lovely Aunt Dot donated an extra £10. So in all we raised £45. I've booked Oxton Conservative Club on Friday April 26th for a race night. Tickets will be £5 and will include a small fish supper. Hopefully it'll be a good laugh and help to raise some funds.

 

We're all meeting with Sam at Clatterbridge Cancer Charity tomorrow to pick her brains about other fundraising ideas so hopefully we'll have even more plans after that.

 

Right, I'd better leave it there and head off to bed. My husband goes back to work tomorrow after a 3 month break so I'm intending to break my new boots in by taking the dogs out for a walk for half an hour every week day before we go to work. I'm announcing this in public because I really love my bed and will be very tempted to not get up in time! So I'll let you know next week whether I managed to drag myself out of my pit to give the dogs some exercise.

 

TTFN, Pauline. 



Snow time!

Our fundraising efforts seem to have got off the ground this week. We've all had some donations in, I was ecstatic to receive 4 donations on just giving so my total on there now is £130. We had the Body Shop at Home party on Wednesday and that raised £176 so it feels like we're getting somewhere now. Lots of people bought a lucky square in advance of the party which raised £75 and 3 of them won £25 worth of Body Shop products each. Everyone who came to the party donated £2 each for a cuppa and a cake. My husband Rich had made scones which were a big hit with cream and jam, thanks Rich :) Everyone was entered into a drawer for the evening's makeover and Sinaed was the person who was chosen to be beautified!

We also had a raffle on the night and everyone there seemed to enjoy themselves. Many thanks to everyone who came and to those who contributed before the event.

This week's walk was a little bit shorter than we intended due to the weather. It's not very common to get snow in this area and really very uncommon to get snow in March! I'm sure when the Chester and Ellesmere Port Rotary clubs organised their Spring Fundraising Walk it didn't cross their minds we'd have had snow in the run up to it. We were determined that if it was going ahead we would be taking part so headed off to Chester Racecourse for the start this morning. Flora, Angela and I were well wrapped up for 1 degree temperature when we arrived. I was wearing 2 pairs of trousers (1 under the other, not one on each leg, that would be strange!), a vest that was long enough to keep my bum warm (I really object to having cold legs and bottom), T-shirt, hoodie, waterproof, hat, scarf and gloves. We were a bit disappointed when we registered to find that the organisers were suggesting that everyone stuck to the 4.5 mile walk as some of the 7 mile route we had intended to do wasn't great due to the snow. The amount of snow around varied hugely as you can see from the photos below which show the racecourse and it's surrounding path which was pretty clear:

Unfortunately the turn out was quite poor so we weren't exactly walking with a crowd. However, it was a pleasant route and an invigorating walk out in the fresh air. The route took us round the edge of the racecourse then out and towards the city centre alongside the River Dee. We then crossed over the river and carried on along the tow path before turning towards Handbridge, back over the river and finally back to the racecourse.

We had to take the odd detour to avoid weather related obstacles:

That little stream in front of the river is where we're meant to be walking! Due to the cold we were quite glad when we made it back to the racecourse and got our entry form stamped to prove we'd finished and picked up our certificates. I'm collecting certificates to prove I've actually got off my derriere and done things!

Excuse my dreadful hat hair and please remember I look fatter than usual because I've got multiple layers of clothes on! In fact on the subject of fatness, I was very cheerful this week as I've lost 5% of my weight since joining Weight Watchers at the beginning of Feb. I'm hoping to be a bit less of a fatty by the time it's graduation in July, then lose some more before we go to Jordan. We've followed the first 5 weeks of the training programme for the trek since registering and move on to the next phase this week. For the next 5 weeks we need to do:

Day 1: 40 mins aerobic training and 3 x 15 reps strength training
Day 2: 10 mins hill/stair climbing
Day 3: 40 mins aerobic training and 3 x 15 reps strength training
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: 40 mins aerobic training
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Trek for 4 hours

With all that we should be getting fitter and trimmer by the day!

TTFN, Pauline.

Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and Bunnies running!

Last week I said I'd give you some information about Clatterbridge Cancer Centre where I've worked for over 20 years, so here it comes. Just so you know, I was asked by a patient today how long I'd been working in radiotherapy. When I told him that it had been 20 something years and I'd received my 20 years service award last year for sticking around for so long, he said he couldn't believe it because I didn't look old enough. God bless him, that man went straight to the top of my Christmas card list!!!  

Here's some info from CCC:

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist cancer hospital located in Wirral, Merseyside, with a satellite radiotherapy centre in nearby Liverpool. It is one of the largest cancer centres in the UK with more than 8,000 new patients registered each year.

 

Overview

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS specialist cancer treatment facilities in the UK – employing 860 staff and treating more than 27,000 patients a year. Based in Wirral, it serves a population of 2.3 million across Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales, the Isle of Man and parts of Lancashire.

 

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre delivers treatments to patients through radiotherapy and chemotherapy services, and has a dedicated cancer rehabilitation team. It also has a sophisticated diagnostic imaging department and is currently the only provider of proton therapy in the UK. With the support of the Teenage Cancer Trust Clatterbridge hosts the region’s Teenage and Young Adult Unit.

 

Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre opened its first radiotherapy satellite centre in Liverpool on 14 February 2011, in order to reduce travel times to patients living north of the River Mersey.

 

Foundation Trust status

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre became a Foundation Trust on 1 August 2006. As a result of its Foundation Trust status, local people, patients, carers and staff can become members and elect representatives to serve on a Council of Governors for the Trust.

Over 5,500 people have applied to become members of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust.

 

Hospitals addresses

 

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust
Clatterbridge Road
Wirral

Merseyside
CH63 4JY

0151 334 1155

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust Liverpool
Lower Lane

Fazakerley
Liverpool

Merseyside
L9 7BA

0151 514 2800

 

History

The Centre’s roots date back over a century to the Liverpool Hospital for Cancer and Diseases of the Skin, set up by James Seaton Smythe, a prominent surgeon. He founded the institution in 1862 and seven years later bequeathed the hospital the sum of £10,000.

In 1882 the hospital moved to a new site in Liverpool and was renamed The Radium Institute, and gradually the Centre grew to be one of two major radiotherapy centres in north-west England.

In the early 1950s a decision was taken to relocate services away from Liverpool city centre to Clatterbridge. The unit was opened in March 1958 and was known as Clatterbridge Hospital West – Radiotherapy Unit. The three wards housed 70 patient beds, and the linear accelerator treated between 60 and 80 patients a day. Demand for radiotherapy increased rapidly and by the mid 1960s up to 90 patients a day were being treated on the linear accelerator.

By 1974 the Centre changed its name to the Mersey Regional Centre for Radiotherapy and Oncology. By 1980 patient numbers were still rising and a decision was taken to undertake large-scale expansion at the unit. A new imaging facility was built, with a CT scanner installed in 1984 and the Gamma camera in 1988. The Medical Research Council chose Clatterbridge as the centre at which a Cyclotron would be installed for Proton and Neutron trials. This was installed in 1984.

 

Papillon – Contact Radiotherapy

The RT 50 Papillon machine at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is the first of its kind in the world. The machine allows the revival of interest in contact radiotherapy for patients with early low rectal tumours. There is increasing interest in Papillon as an alternative treatment option as it avoids major surgery and permanent stoma which is still regarded (at present) as the standard treatment for these patients.

 

Cyclotron

The Douglas Cyclotron is the only proton therapy facility of its kind in the United Kingdom. It is a national facility which treats cancers within the eye. Patients are referred from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a smaller number from mainland Europe and other continents.
All patients requiring proton therapy for eye disease are referred to the service by eye tumour specialists at the following four ophthalmological tumour centres:

London (St Bartholomew’s Hospital)
Liverpool (St Paul's Eye Unit)
Sheffield (Royal Hallamshire Hospital)
Glasgow (Gartnavel General Hospital)

Fundraising

The hospital charity, ‘The Clatterbridge Cancer Charity’ is the only charity that raises funds to directly benefit the patients of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

The Clatterbridge Cancer Charity wants to ensure the hospital can offer the most up-to-date treatment, support vital research, treat patients with world-class equipment and provide extra support services that may otherwise be unavailable.

To find out more about The Clatterbridge Cancer Charity’ visit www.yourclatterbridge.org.uk

 

Having been born and brought up in Bebington, Clatterbridge has been part of my life. My Mum did her nurse training at Clatterbridge School of Nursing in the late 1950/60's and she returned to work at Clatterbridge as a phlebotomist when I was 10 years old. She used to talk about the patients she met when taking blood samples for in patients who were receiving courses of radiotherapy. I remember the Super Scanner appeal when the money was raised to buy the first CT scanner for the unit in 1984 (I was still at school). The rest of the Clatterbridge site was Bebington's general hospital until 1979(ish) when Arrowe Park hospital opened. I had my appendix taken out at Clatterbridge one Friday evening in April 1980, I had a great time staying on Wendy ward which is now part of the St John's Hospice buildings.

When I visited the radiotherapy department at Cookridge Hospital when I was applying to train as a therapeutic radiographer I remember not being terribly surprised by anything I saw, I think I was just used to the idea of radiotherapy. What did surprise me about Cookridge was the fear the name of the hospital aroused in people living in West Yorkshire. It seemed really strange that a hospital could have such a strong association with cancer that the local population would be terrified if they were referred there. What I had failed to realise about Clatterbridge, was that it aroused the same feelings in people from Liverpool and North Wales. My view of a friendly DGH was only applicable to Bebington/Wirral residents and unfortunately the rest of Clatterbridge's wider catchment area was just as terrified as the people being referred in to Cookridge. Hopefully in the last 20+ years cancer has become a slightly less daunting illness and certainly my own experience is that our patients often find that their fears were unfounded and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is a pleasant friendly hospital full of hope rather than doom and gloom. 

When I transferred to Clatterbridge to complete my training the thing that did amaze me was the Neutron treatment facility which was part of the Cyclotron Unit. Having got used to normal linear accelerators which, were then and are still the machines which deliver the majority of external beam radiotherapy the neutron machine seemed absolutely massive. Due to the size of the gantry there was a pit under the floor and the floor could be withdrawn to allow the machine to rotate round and underneath the patient lying on the treatment couch. The neutron treatment unit was decommisioned when it was decided that side effects caused by this type of treatment were too severe and this ended neutron treatment in the U.K.. This type of treatment is still delivered in other parts of the world.

Bomford, C.K., Kunkler, I.H. and Sherriff, S.B. (1993)

It would seem moving floors were relatively common before my time in radiotherapy due to the size of linear accelerators but I had never seen anything like it! In fact the picture below shows a treatment machine with a floor which could be dropped out of the way to allow the machine to rotate, apparently patient's slippers had to be retrieved from the pit on a regular basis. Fortunately the patients weren't in them when they slid down the angled floor! When I first saw this photo I thought the machine must have been from the 1950's. However, I'm reliably informed that it was still operational in the 1980's.

Back in the day it wasn't unusual at all for Linear Accelerators (linacs) to still be running 20 years post installation. These days the expected life span of a linac is about 10 years. Due to the complexity of the machinery and the rapidly changing technology available in radiotherapy I don't think our shiny Novalis machine which was installed in the Aintree satellite centre will still be treating patients in 2030!

The Novalis linear accelerator

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/02/07/2-3m-brain-tumour-machine-unveiled-at-clatterbridge-cancer-centre-in-liverpool-99623-28124031/

This news article has a little film which shows one of our consultant clinical oncologists, Dr Haylock, discussing the advantages of the Novalis machine:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-12377388

I think that's enough plugging of Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for now! I'll fill you in on the exciting news about our fitness efforts this week.

Angela and Flora spent Sunday morning up to their knees in mud trekking around Thurstaston. Despite the weather they covered 7 miles, including a trespassing incident! Apparently this photo was taken before the mud bath! Angela certainly looks well dressed for the weather.

 

I wasn't able to join them as I had headed off to Llandudno for the Bunny Fun Run. I have to confess I was NOT looking forward to it. My prep hadn't gone quite as well as I'd hoped due to the fact that i just couldn't bring myself to go out and run in public! I did try to run on the treadmill at the gym but I was TERRIFIED of falling off!!! I have a long history of falling over, so this was not an unfounded concern! I consulted with my children about what i should wear, they're still at school and are occasionally forced to take part in the dreaded cross country so they had at least some ideas about appropriate dress. Oddly enough I don't have a wardrobe full of running clothes, strange hey!?!?!? I'd got dressed as they advised and set off for North Wales in plenty of time. It was a lovely cold but very bright sunny morning when I left the Wirral. Then after I hit the coast road it started raining, then sleet and finally snow. At that point, it dawned on me that I'd forgotten a waterproof. School boy error!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was tipping down with rain when i arrived so I sat in the car for a while praying it would ease off. Fortunately for me, a miracle happened, the rain eased and actually stopped before the run and only started again as it was finishing. Someone was smiling on us for sure. Everyone taking part was issued with a set of bunny ears and face painting was optional :)

Here's me, very obviously UNCOMFORTABLE!!!! I wasn't bothered about looking silly wearing bunny ears and face paint. It was the prospect of public running that was making me cringe.

I was surrounded by happy smiley people all having a laugh and I was TERRIFIED!!!! I was a bit less rigid after we'd done a warm up and I actually did run some of it, honest I did! It was 4km (2.5 miles in old money) from one end of Llandudno prom to the other and back again. There were lots of people taking part, serious (ish) runners, families with dogs, young and old and it was really good fun. There was a big group all dressed as rabbits who were there raising money in the name of a friend who was cared for in the hospice.



http://stdavidshospice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Bunny.jpg

First through the finishing post was Chris, Moyra's husband. He's been running competitively since he was 9 years old, he did it in 17 minutes and that included a cheery wave at all of us whom he passed on his way back down the prom. I took 34 minutes to do it, strangely enough I haven't been running competitively or otherwise since childhood! In fact I'm fairly sure I haven't run in public since I was at school. For me just breaking my own law and actually running where a whole bunch of people could see me was a HUGE achievement. So yay me!!! :)))) I even beat a few people, admittedly most of those I passed looked about 6 years old, but take it from me, the 6 year olds in North Wales are really fit!!!!

Here's the proof that I actually did run and made it across the finishing line:

Does my bum look big in this???? ;)

I even got a certificate!!!!

Some of my fellow radiographers are a lot less fat and unfit than I am and a number of them completed the Liverpool Half Marathon on Sunday. I'm seriously impressed by them, not only do they run in public but they do it for a long time and quite fast too!!! Here's Lucy after completing the 13 mile course, looking as fresh as a daisy:

Well done guys, I think you're all amazing :)

I think that'll do for now. I'll try to think of an exciting subject for next weeks update.