 Andrew Gartside's StoryA personal story...
'On the 17th December 2004 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and told the cancer would require six sessions of chemotherapy to be administered at a BUPA hospital in Warrington. When I underwent diagnostic tests for the illness at Clatterbridge Hospital in Merseyside, which was conducted in the In-patients Chemotherapy ward, I started noticing a difference in the quality of the environment in which cancer treatment was being delivered.
The first visit to a chemotherapy clinic can be a terrifying experience, and to have it administered in a tired, old medical ward really can hit the morale of a patient. This comes at a time when the patient’s mental attitude to their disease is of crucial importance. If a patient’s treatment is administered within an emotionally comforting environment, perhaps with the moral support of other patients in a group situation, without the atmosphere of a medical ward, it can strengthen the resolve to fight the illness.
There are many aspects associated with creating a positive environment for cancer treatment. The environment encompasses everything that is involved in a patient’s treatment including parking, the reception area, the waiting rooms; the treatment rooms themselves, and of course the personal touch from members of staff. We envisage an environment in which a person’s chemotherapy is not an experience that fills them with dread when the day comes, but is seen as a comfortable, relaxing time which can be spent with friends and of course family.
Many types of cancer are becoming treatable, and in some cases this means life-long cure, I am fortunate enough to have been given such a prognosis, which has made my illness a lot easier to cope with. However, my mental attitude has been a product of the environment in which I received my treatment. By setting up CANtreat I hope to enable some cancer sufferers to receive the same benefits that I have.'
Further Information on Andrew's Illness
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