We are The Christie magazine - Edition 6

Feature story

A day of hope on the BBC Rama’s visit to explore our proton beam therapy centre in Minecraft was part of a wider moment in the national spotlight, as The Christie worked with BBC Radio 5 Live on a special ‘Day of Hope’.

Professor Aziz said: “The chance to shine a light on a rare tumour type that receives little national attention was a great opportunity and an important thing to do”. Supportive care was also a key focus. Professor Richard Berman spoke on Radio 5 Live about the role of supportive oncology in helping people live as well as possible with cancer. Professor Fiona Thistlethwaite was also part of the programming, discussing early-phase clinical trials and the importance of research in offering new hope to patients. She had treated the BBC presenter Rachael Bland, who was the driving force behind the powerful BBC podcast – ‘You, Me and the Big C’. The BBC’s ‘Day of Hope’ was created to celebrate the legacy of the podcast, and they asked Professor Thistlethwaite about Rachael and the impact the podcast has had on patients and people like her working in cancer care. At the heart of the coverage, however, was Rama’s experience with Minecraft. Her story demonstrates how innovative approaches at The Christie, such as helping children explore treatment through play, can make a big difference in how they feel about treatment.

Ahead of World Cancer Day and alongside the launch of the government’s National Cancer Plan, the BBC spent time at our hospital to understand how we are improving the lives of people with cancer. Across BBC Radio 5 Live, Newsround, BBC News online, and regional BBC TV and radio, audiences heard about pioneering research, our supportive care service, and listened to several of our consultants being interviewed. Alongside Rama’s story, the BBC visited the Paterson Building to explore groundbreaking research aimed at better understanding and treating pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) – a rare appendix cancer.

In total, The Christie was mentioned on the BBC more than 200 times in one day, reaching millions of people across the UK.

“The chance to shine a light on a rare tumour type that receives little national attention was a great opportunity and an important thing to do”

Professor Omer Aziz and research fellow Rags Nagaraju shared how

they are working to better understand and treat PMP,

growing patients’ tumours outside the body, and analysing mutations with a view to developing more

personalised and effective treatments in the future.

Professor Omer Aziz

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