On Thursday, the 18th of October, two classes from transition year went to a talk about cancer. The speaker, Tanya,was head of oncology and she talked to us about cancer awareness. The points she raised were what cancer is, what it does to you and what causes it. She warned us against an unhealthy diet, drinking, smoking and staying out in the sun for too long unprotected. She told us that one in three people will get cancer in their lifetimes and that our risk of getting it increases as we get older. However there are some cancers like testicular cancer that you are more likely to get when you are younger. |
After this, she handed us over to the second speaker who told us how to spot cancer, what signs to look for and how to test yourself for cancer.
She told us what to look for to detect skin cancer like moles that have changed colour or shape, to detect bowel cancer and to detect bladder cancer like blood in your urine or stool.
She then went through the method of how to inspect for testicular cancer and breast cancer. She explained how we should check and how often we should check. She then ended by telling us that over all the cases of cancer she had seen in her career, the reason that most survived was because of early detection and that if we think there may be something wrong we should see our GP.
The talk was very informative and very worthwhile to go to. I think everyone learnt a lot from it and will be very aware of cancer and how to check themselves for cancer in the future.
Text: SL & ST