THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR

PROFESSOR KAROL SIKORA

CMO of Rutherford Cancer Centres and Former Director of WHO Cancer Programme

SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora has been signed up by the Daily Express. Readers can now enjoy his soothing advice in these troubled times that has won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.

WHEN I first got involved in this debate, I would always take in hypotheticals about how cancer patients would be affected by the severe disruption that was being caused.

Sadly, that is no longer the case. Every day, more and more people are suffering because of it, not to mention those who don’t even know they have a problem yet.

A young father has been on various news channels recently bravely speaking about his family’s story.

His wife had her chemotherapy disrupted because of the virus. Sadly, her condition has worsened and treatment is now not working as it should. They have four young children.

Cancer is a relentless disease, and it’s tragic but in many occasions there is little that can be done. This story is not one of those. Having the disease is torturous even in normal times. I just can’t imagine what people are having to go through now. The delays, the waiting, the cancellations. It just isn’t right.

This has been going on for six months now. Every case is different, but usually a delay of weeks rather than months won’t normally make a huge difference.

If this continues till next March, as we’ve been threatened with, the damage will be astonishing.

I’ve been in medicine for half a century and have treated cancer patients for the vast majority of them. I have never been as worried about the state of cancer care in this country as I am now.

In his address, why didn’t the PM encourage people to seek medical help if they were worried they might have symptoms? It was a missed opportunity.

If you or someone close to you is worried about any persistent or progressive symptom, the only solution is to seek medical help from NHS 111 or your GP.

The system is there for you, however daunting it feels.