Let us live well with cancer... not just die from it
Baroness Jowell’s plea for more NHS funding & research to help fellow sufferers
DAME Tessa Jowell pleaded for better cancer care in a moving speech yesterday.
The Labour veteran had Lords in tears as she spoke of her own terminal brain tumour.
Calling for more funding, she said: “I hope this will give hope to others, so we can live well with cancer, not just die of it.”
HER own health may be ailing, but Dame Tessa Jowell yesterday issued a rallying cry for all cancer sufferers as she pleaded for better treatment and more funding.
The Labour veteran stunned the Lords into silence during a heartfelt speech in which she spoke about her terminal brain tumour and urged other patients not to give up hope of living decent lives.
But she also highlighted the shocking underfunding in neurological cancers, which receive only 2% of research monies and have had no new vital drugs for the past 50 years.
As she delivered her impassioned plea, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt – architect of savage NHS cuts – watched in silence.
And after she spoke, peers – many of whom had been brought to tears – gave the 70-year-old the first ever standing ovation in the upper chamber.
Looking frail and her voice cracking with emotion, Dame Tessa said: “Cancer is a tough challenge to all health systems, and particularly our cherished NHS.
“We have the worst survival rate in western Europe. Partly because diagnosis is too slow. Brain tumours grow very quickly and are hard to spot.
“In the end, what gives a life meaning is not only how it is lived, but how it draws to a close.
“I hope this debate will give hope to other cancer patients like me, so that we can live well with cancer, not just be dying of it. All of us, for longer.”
Wearing a beanie hat with white wires coming from the back, the former Culture Secretary spoke starkly of her glioblastoma – a rare and aggressive cancer that affects fewer than 3,000 people in England every year.
She said: “I was on my way to talk about Sure Start projects. I got into a taxi but couldn’t speak. I had two powerful seizures. I was taken to hospital.
“Two days later, I was told that I had a brain tumour, glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM. A week later the tumour was removed by an outstanding surgeon at the National Hospital in Queen Square. I then had radio and chemotherapy.”
But Dame Tessa grimly declared the disease has “a very poor prognosis”.
She told how she believes the Eliminate Cancer Initiative, which allows patients to take experimental risks with their treatment, could mark a breakthrough in the fight against the disease – if ministers support it.
Dame Tessa spoke of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, saying: “[His] last words were, ‘Do not be afraid.’ I am not afraid, but I’m fearful this new and important approach may
be put into the ‘too difficult’ box. But I also have such great hope. So many cancer patients collaborate and support each other. “They create that community of love and determination. “All we ask is that doctors do the same… learn from each other. “ECI will focus initially on GBM because it is so tough to beat, so it’s all about sharing knowledge at every level. “If we achieve this we will go a long way to crack GBM and other cancers. For what would every cancer patient want? To know that the best, the latest science was being used. What else do they want?
“They need to know they have a community around them supporting and caring, being practical and kind.”
The Brain Tumour Charity praised her inspirational speech.
Chief executive Sarah Lindsell said: “Tessa Jowell’s passion and dedication to public service has touched countless lives over more than four decades. This afternoon, she showed that she has lost none of her determination to help others even in the most difficult personal circumstances.”
Mr Hunt tweeted: “Just been privileged to listen to incredible powerful and moving speech by Tessa Jowell on the need to speed up clinical trials process for brain cancer patients. She is of course right and we look carefully at her sensible suggestions.”