Welcome to R.A.G.E
R.A.G.E. (Radiotherapy Action Group Exposure) supports and campaigns
for those suffering injury from Radiotherapy given as treatment for Breast Cancer.
"Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Dylan Thomas - 1951
The Big Story - Rage Patients Talking
The founding members of RAGE drew up the following aims and objectives, each of equal importance.
The Four Aims and Objectives of RAGE:
To campaign for national standards in Radiotherapy.
To raise awareness of the injuries and campaign for sympathetic medical care within the NHS.
To seek compensation commensurate with the injury.
To provide mutual support.
Each of these aims is strongly endorsed by the RAGE Committee on behalf of RAGE members.
Doctors hail world first as woman’s advanced breast cancer is eradicated
04 June 2018 - Immune cells from the woman’s own body used to wipe out tumours
A leading cancer researcher said the experiment was proof that we are on the ‘cusp of a major revolution’ in being able to target cancer with immunotherapy.
It is the first time that a patient with late-stage breast cancer has been successfully treated by a form of immunotherapy that uses the patient’s own immune cells to find and destroy cancer cells that have formed in the body.
The doctors treated Perkins by injecting 80 billion carefully-selected immune cells into her body.
The therapy was given alongside pembrolizumab, a standard drug that can help the immune system to attack cancers.
Tests after 42 weeks showed Perkins was completely cancer free. She has remained so ever since.
The success, reported in the journal Nature Medicine, is all the more remarkable because breast cancers, like prostate and ovarian cancer, have relatively few mutations, which makes them harder for the immune system to spot amid the body’s healthy tissues.
“Metastatic breast cancer remains incurable, and if we are to finally stop women dying we urgently need to find new ways to target and stop the spread of the disease. We are thrilled by this early finding, but we must remember that this type of immunotherapy remains an experimental approach that has a long way to go before it might be routinely available to patients.”
Leptospermum Honey to Manage Wounds Impaired by Radiotherapy: A Case Series
Volume 55 - Issue 1 - January, 2009
Radiation-induced tissue injury and wounds with radiation-impaired healing are traumatic for patients and challenging for their caregivers. Standardized management approaches do not exist. The effect of Leptospermum honey as a primary dressing for managing these wounds was assessed in four patients (age range 63 to 93 years) who had previously undergone radiotherapy that left them with fragile friable areas of damaged skin that did not respond to conventional treatment.
No adverse events were reported. Honey as an adjunct to conventional wound/skin care post radiation therapy shows promise for less painful healing in these chronic wounds. Prospective, randomized, controlled clinical studies are needed to confirm these observations.
RAGE Recommended Book
Foiled Creative Fire: A study of remarkable women with breast cancer
The origin of this book came about fairly soon after the author's own experience of breast cancer, when she heard similar stories told by others in her support group, of traumatic life events followed by depression, followed by cancer. She began to explore the lives of women in history who experienced breast cancer, and found a similar pattern, from Anne of Austria (1601-1666) to Audre Lorde (1934-1992).
It tells the stories of women through the ages who experienced breast cancer, at times when modern medicine was not available to help: in spite of this, several of the women recovered well and went on to live productive lives. The novelist Fanny Burney was one of these, whose mastectomy was performed by Napoleon's best surgeon; the Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell was another. In these two cases their creative fire was not foiled: they both went on to do more admirable work.
For more information or to buy:
Book Synopsis (PDF) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XsuXlqm1OGo1iq1_IqbX42SqF_7ha4TA/view?usp=sharing
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/54134490-foiled-creative-fire
Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foiled-Creative-Fire-remarkable-breast/dp/0987411152/
The European Cancer Patient Coalition have asked for our support with their survey on COVID-19 and cancer which they launched recently.
With their survey 'Mapping EU Member State's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancer' they are gathering information to understand the effect that COVID-19 has had on cancer patients and their treatment across Europe.
Further details can be found on RAGE here: More Info Or go directly to the ECPC page here: ECPC Survey
Contact Us:
To apply to become a member, or to contact R.A.G.E.
Email - info@rageuk.org
Telephone - 01892 557804