THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR
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 have won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.
I’VE treated cancer for decades. It’s been the sole focus of my working life since I first got into medicine nearly 50 years ago.
Over my career I have treated tens of thousands of patients, maybe more. Old timers like me have seen everything – or at least I thought I had.
The coronavirus pandemic was always going to throw our health system into disarray, but I didn’t anticipate quite how badly cancer patients would be affected.
We’ve seen constant media coverage of how the virus is being tackled, and daily graphs and data, but barely anything on the looming cancer crisis.
A lot of stark predictions have been thrown around about the virus. The vast majority have been wrong, but sadly I am confident in saying that unless we get moving on cancer treatment and diagnosis, tens of thousands of people will lose their lives unnecessarily.
Using the Nightingale hospitals to help treat the backlog is a welcome move and one that could be expanded.
I’ve been shouting about this incoming crisis for months and we only seem to be getting moving now. I have lobbied ministers, written columns and constantly tweeted but sometimes it seems to be falling on deaf ears.
The damage that is being done won’t be seen for months or even years. Cancer is a cunning disease that can remain hidden with no serious signs or symptoms for years. Rooting it out early is key to improving the patient’s prognosis.
People are too scared to get persistent symptoms checked. They want to avoid any hospitals and I understand that.
But if you have any unusual symptoms – lumps, abdominal pains, blood in urine or poo, unexpected weight loss – please get checked.
When we look back at the mortality statistics in a few years we will see the coronavirus spike, but there will be a second wave of cancer patients who didn’t get their treatment in time.