I have spoken in recent weeks, about why I am dramatically slowing my direct involvement in the cancer space. Having had to take some enforced time away from my regular routine, I realised how tired I was, watching the same things go through my life on my personal timeline. It now feels like ‘doom scrolling’ with my past! Watching films and music that have been remade so many times. Fighting around the world, that never seems to stop. Global governments and politicians, coming and going with little benefit over time, for most of us. The planet being destroyed in front of our eyes, and ultimately we now have a world that is a lot more unsafe and unkind than when I was born, more than 60 years ago.
Re-evaluating my role in cancer advocacy
There is very little that any of us can do about most of it. However, we can decide how we spend our time. I have always been a successful person in everything I have done. Except at school!! In many ways, I feel that my biggest achievement, is still being alive after my cancer diagnosis. So when I wanted to improve the lives of people affected by this terrible disease, I had no reason not to dream big. I started in my hospital, then in my locality. Discovered the Internet, and then went global. It wasn’t luck, I worked incredibly hard to get myself into a position where I became a credible source on the subject. Being a keynote speaker at many conferences globally.
But recently I have started to focus on the bigger picture within cancer, since my personal involvement. Things were so poor when I started in 2007. The best support you could hope for was a load of booklets. There were several campaigners like myself out there and we did see some progress. Despite being a lot slower than we would like! That seemed to peak a few years before covid. As delays in the NHS really took a hold. Money for healthcare got tighter, and research was cancelled, to balance the books.
With the inevitable fall out from the crazy policies during covid, all waiting lists got longer. Cancer was now being forgotten, and in my opinion we have regressed at least 15 years. With a general lack of innovation, coupled with fear of change, we now see the same faces, saying the same things. All of course still being well paid for failure. Since the election, the same charity giants are now courting the new Government. All of these people being involved in the constant failure in the sector. Why should we continue to listen to them? Third sector giants spending time and money to lobby, fast changing and failing politicians. All of whom are looking for quick win PR opportunities.
No matter which way you spin the figures, cancer is impacting us much more. Moving from 33% of us to 50% in the last 20 years. In that time, we have been blessed with some of the most incredible technological advances known to man, but still we are struggling against this awful disease. Will any organisation even consider our old approaches are wrong? My background is business, and continuing like this would not be an option! We would have been shut down years ago.
I would now like to bring us back to some basics. Anybody who uses the healthcare system is a ‘CUSTOMER.’ Not a service user, or any other names that have been used. However, we have very little choice about anything. These days we have become grateful for a disintegrating service. Just happy to get some help, when it can be provided. Let’s be fair, if there was another option, we would go there. So why are we considering it a success when people still applaud projects that involve patients. Holy moly, this should be happening as standard. There is no successful business surviving, that doesn’t engage impactfully with it’s customers!
Focusing on Digital Poverty and Community Impact
Five years ago my work at SimPal was featured on BBC national news at 6pm and 10pm. Discussing the prevalence of cancer poverty. Yes, cancer poverty!! Which as we all know is so much worse now than it was then. When I recently watched that video, was when I decided to withdraw from the mainstream of cancer. But my big dreams continue, with our charity. In that time, our work now covers the entire UK, and we are helping people daily in a tangible way. We are not wrapped up in our own red tape or chasing ego centric politicians. Just sticking to our task of helping anyone impacted by digital poverty in this country. We can see the issues, keep out of the politics, and focus on what we do well.
My dreams are even bigger than they were, as so much more of our work is controlled by us. We have made incredible progress since talking about the issues around digital poverty, way back in 2016. We are now experts in the field, and the first choice of many national organisations for help and advice. The people in #TeamSimPal all come with their hearts, and not their hands out. Each one a business person, looking to find the most effective answers to one of society’s most complex problems.
I would like to thank everyone for their incredible support of my work over the years. I can assure you I won’t be ignoring the issue of cancer, but it will no longer be my main focus! As always please feel free to share your own views and experiences below.
