At the Meso Patient & Carer day it was inspiring to hear other patients stories (Tim Stokes & Liam Bradley); along with the experts speaking on the tremendous amount of current work going on, the trials, the research etc which gives all of us Meso warriors hope for the future.
At both conferences the National Meso audit results (2014-16) were highlighted and the key stats which stood out for me are:
7192 diagnosed during audit period
84% of pleural Meso occurs in Males
Average patient age is 75
104 patients are below the age of 54
Only 40% had chemo
4% have radical surgery
Out of 7192 patients I am only one of two people who had full lung removal!
38% patients survive 1 year
7% patients survive 3 years
This week another milestone was achieved for us as I passed the 3 year mark! Looking at the above stats it still shows how incredible lucky we are!
Therefore it added to the emotion today that we were able to share our 3 year journey at the NLCFN forum at the International Centre in Telford. The aim was to inform those present of our journey and hopefully to continue to inspire attendees to continue the great work everyone is doing to help us as Meso patients and carers. Our presentation was based around the following quote (thanks Caroline Cartwright ) that has stuck with me since the start of diagnosis and will do going forward :