Touchlines Support for English-speaking people touched by cancer in France The Newsletter of Cancer Support France — Association N° W163000037 Volume 16 Issue 1 January 2020 Page CONTENTS WOW! 1 Editor’s piece President’s Ponderings 2 Well, what a brilliant, bumper edition to start off 2020. In New President for La Ligue all the years since I started producing/editing Touchlines, I Regional Round-up (pages 3-14) have never had such a huge amount of submissions. So, a 3 Charente-Maritime Charente Plus massive THANK YOU to all of the Presidents, Vice- Presidents, PR people and guest contributors; you have Charente Plus cont... 4 Dordogne Est & Lot made this a truly enjoyable issue to work on. Dordogne Est & Lot cont… 5 Haute-Vienne On behalf of every Association within CSF, thank you to Languedoc everyone who has put their all into making Cancer Support 6 Languedoc cont… France the wonderful success that it is but most impor- Languedoc cont… tantly, for fulfilling the brief, ‘Support for English-speaking 7 Lot-et-Garonne people touched by cancer in France’, in so many ways. I Lot-et-Garonne cont… am personally, really proud to be able to continue to do 8 Nord my ‘bit’ from down here in sunny Spain. 9 Provence Gard Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year. 10 Sud de France 11 Sue de France Aude; Pyrénées Orientales Margaret York, Editor 12 Sud de France Pyrénées Orientales cont...; Tarn Sud de France Tarn cont… 13 Vienne Vienne cont… 14 Kilimanjaro Climb Kilimanjaro Climb cont… 15 Cycle for Life 2020 Cycle for Life 2020 cont… 16 Genetics and Human Cancers THE BRITISH Book Corner 17 COMMUNITY Also Here to Help COUNCIL 18 Useful & Regional Information We remember our Founding President, Linda Shepherd 1953-2017 Volume 16 Issue 1 Imprimé par nos soins Page 1 PRESIDENT’S PONDERINGS… a few words from Pat Lockett, National President We woke this morning to our first blue skies, such a relief after so many days of rain. So much in fact, that a message from SAUR tells us that our drinking water is compromised and we are on bottled water until the level of the Lot reduces. I wonder if anyone can tell me where 2019 has gone to? Yesterday I put the 2020 pages into my diary and found it hard to believe we are nearly at the end of 2019. Since the last edition of Touchlines, the National committee has been far from idle. We are pressing ahead with a number of projects aimed to ensure we can help our client support volunteers in the work they undertake. The Active Listener Handbook is approaching completion and the Demarches Sociales 2018 (Cancer and Welfare Services) has been translated. The latter will be freely available to all CSF volunteers and will be shared with our partner organisations, such as La Ligue contre le cancer. You will be able to download it from our website, www.cancersupportfrance.org We continue to explore how we can best support cancer survivors and are currently considering three HOPE programmes developed in the UK by Macmillan Cancer Support in conjunction with Coventry University. We know cancer survival rates are, thankfully, increasing but the long term effects of the disease or its treatments have the potential to compromise quality of life. We feel we will be able to better support this group of clients with a dedicated programme of support. In November, we again came together at IUCT Oncopole in Toulouse. Training for Trainers, a National Trainers’ Conference, Helplines Conference and National Conseil meeting took place over four days. We are all very good at keeping things going at a distance through email and internet conferencing but nothing can beat actually sitting around a table together, so much is achieved. The date for the Annual General Meeting has been agreed and will take place in Limoges during the afternoon of Wednesday 11th March 2020. Finally my very best wishes to you for a happy festive time and the healthiest 2020 possible. NEW PRESIDENT FOR LA LIGUE CONTRE LE CANCER - submitted by the Editor “At the 2019 Assemblée générale of La Ligue contre le cancer in Toulouse, Professor Axel Kahn was elected President. He succeeds Professor Jacqueline Godet – President since 2012 who had chosen not to be re-elected. Professor Axel Kahn has been involved with La Ligue since 1990, firstly as Vice-President of the Scientific Council. He then created, and presided over from 2004 to date, La Ligue's Ethics Group. Cancer Support France works closely with La Ligue at both national and local levels.” Volume 16 Issue 1 Page 2 REGIONAL ROUNDUP CHARENTE-MARITIME - submitted by Dick Smith, President A huge thank you goes out to everyone who attended our October Rose event last night at Le Relais in Boutenac- Touvent. The evening was a great success, new friendships were made and great fun was had, dancing the night away. CHARENTE PLUS - submitted by Mo Woolner, PR and Media Co-ordinator Charity Race Night with Fish and Chip meal A Great night with lovely fish and chips was had at the CSF Charente Plus Charity Race Night with a fantastic 320€ being raised. A big thank you to Nicky and her team at Cafe Clemence in Chabanais for hosting, and to Christine and Mike Ellingham for giving up their time to present the event, with best dressed man going to Paul White. Les Amis coffee mornings donation A huge thank you to Les Amis at Saint-Agneau, who have donated all the monies raised from their Coffee Mornings - a fantastic 550€. Our treasurer, Vivien Clarkson, is pictured receiving the cheque from Lynda, we had a lovely morning Thank you Les Amis. Night of Dance Another huge thank you to Sue Hendy and Janet Taylor for organising our Night of Dance at Chabanais Salle de Fête in support of CSF France Charente Plus; 506€ was raised on the night - a fantastic response and a great night for a great cause! Volume 16 Issue 1 Page 3 CHARENTE PLUS - continued... NIGHT OF DANCE LYNDA PRESENTING LES AMIS’ COFFEE MORNINGS RACE NIGHT HORSE AND RIDER, MIKE ELLINGHAM WHO DONATION CHEQUE TO OUR TREASURER, PRESENTED THE EVENING WITH PAUL WHITE, VIVIEN CLARKSON AKA, ‘BEST DRESSED MAN’ DORDOGNE EST & LOT - submitted by Jo Treanor, Vice President and PR Dordogne Est & Lot and the Oncology Department in Cahors hospital We at CSF Dordogne Est & Lot are delighted to report that, as a result of some years of contact with the Oncology Team at Cahors hospital, we have been granted full access to the department. This comes as a result of a meeting between President, Heather Moorhead, Client Co-Ordinator, Philippe Mika and the head of Oncology at Cahors, Dr Lavasseur. CSF is now recognised as a positive source of help and support to both the doctors and nurses, as we are able to ease communications between medical staff and English-speaking patients. We very much hope that this new development leads to our being able to support many more cancer patients. Where Do We Want To Be? During this year, our Association put in place a 5-year development plan so that we can continue to improve our support for those affected by cancer and move forward with awareness-raising and events that reach a wider community. Greater awareness and improvements in treatments mean that some of the support we have offered previously, may no longer be such a priority and we may need to develop and provide other avenues of support. Volume 16 Issue 1 Page 4 DORDOGNE EST & LOT - continued... Although in its early stages, we have already established an approach to quality assurance so that we can establish if what we provide is successful and meets required needs. The first of a series of Cancer Discussion Groups was also recently held. Prostate discussion group - men only A group of 13 men attended this session with 8 participants sending emails with reflections on the afternoon; suggestions were also included for our Association to consider in the future. A few had no current symptoms, some had possible symptoms and others, after diagnosis, had undergone treatment. All appreciated the opportunity to discuss this subject, to find out more about symptoms, diagnostic tests as well as the various treatment options available. The size of the group afforded everyone the opportunity to speak and to ask questions. The MAIN MESSAGE from this afternoon to all you gentlemen was of: - THE NEED TO BE VIGILANT WITH POSSIBLE SYMPTOMS AND TO HAVE AN ANNUAL PSA TEST Training In October, 2 colleagues undertook the two-day Active Listener Training in another CSF area. They completed their third day of training with our own Association on November 19th. We are delighted to welcome Letitia Evans and Allison Clark to our team of Active Listeners. Both are seen here with our President, Heather Moorhead. HAUTE-VIENNE - submitted by Sue Ware As 2019 draws to a close, the year for Cancer Support France Haute-Vienne has been a very busy and enjoyable time. We have rejoined National and 3 candidates have taken part in two different lots of training in the Lot and Toulouse. Our two trainers went to the Trainers’ Training and conference in Toulouse in November and our Patron, Dr Cornelia Wilson, was one of the guest speakers at the conference. We have supported over 14 clients during this year having started the year rather concerned that we were, as some of the other Associations, rather quiet. We have certainly made up for that now.