Changing lives
Our £700,000 new mobile chemotherapy unit is already changing lives as it takes treatment out to patients in north and east Yorkshire.
Rob Holtby, who attended the launch of the unit this summer, was one of the first to be treated when it took to the road, visiting Malton, Scarborough, Bridlington and Selby.
Rob, a 67-year-old farmer from Leavening, has prostate cancer and before the unit was launched this summer, he was travelling to Scarborough for chemotherapy – a return trip of around 60 miles.
A former steward at Malton Rugby Club, Rob still looks after the pitch at the club, one of the unit’s regular ports of call.
When he went in for his first session at the mobile unit, the staff even turned it around for him so he could see his beloved club ground. A tree was slightly in the way, so Rob nipped out to trim a couple of branches back.
“The new unit is making a big difference to patients like me,” said Rob. “The nurses in Scarborough are brilliant, they are very good to you, but it is a stressful thing that you are having done.
“When I had to travel to Scarborough, it was 30 miles each way. We would allow ourselves an hour for traffic but I would always get a bit stressed about the travel, too.
“Now it’s at Malton, it’s so much better. It’s so easy, it’s just down the road and when they took my blood pressure last time, it was the lowest it had ever been because I just haven’t got the stress.
“I saw my specialist last week and he said it seems to me that the treatment is working, so I feel as if there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“People know me in Malton and they have seen the papers and the TV, so they know that I have been having treatment at the unit. Some have been asking me if they could get treatment there and I have told them to ask the question, to see if they can be referred.
“It’s not just me that benefits - there will be hundreds of people who are not going to have to travel and it makes a big difference to your personal wellbeing.
“I think it is brilliant and it’s fantastic to think that people have been generous enough to make things like this happen through York Against Cancer. I would urge anyone to contribute if they can – I think it’s such a good cause.”
Our 30th anniversary appeal is supporting the new unit. Learn more and give here: http://www.yorkagainstcancer.org.uk/our-30th-anniversary-fundraising-campaign