CANCER is something which touches everyone’s lives – no matter how hard we try to hide from it or pretend it isn’t there.
You don’t have to be a pessimist to appreciate the odds of you or someone you care for actually contracting this horrible disease because we’ve all seen the figures. And we all know someone who has suffered or is suffering from cancer in some form.
The word hasn’t got the power it once had, thanks to huge steps forward in research and treatment which has meant cancer is not necessarily a death sentence. But it does change people and families forever, and it still robs many of us of those we love.
I mention this now because there has been good news for Bolton on the  subject. The town is now a step nearer to getting its own specialist cancer information service after commissioners approved a plan.
The Bolton Cancer Patients and Carers Consultative Group has long campaigned for a centre offering support and help to cancer sufferers and their families but has been dealt a series of crushing blows over the years. Now, the Bolton Commissioning Group (CCG) which replaces the local Primary Care Trust this week, has voted in favour of a centre model which would be run with Bolton Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Care and sited at the hospice off Chorley New Road.
This is wonderful news – both for the caring group that refused to give up on a dream, and for the people of Bolton generally who will most certainly benefit from such a practical and supportive centre.
A cancer diagnosis means stepping over a line into frightening, unknown  territory for patients and for their families. For patients, it’s a feeling of relinquishing control over your body that is hard to convey to anyone who hasn’t been a sufferer. It is, quite simply, terrifying.
We are very lucky in Bolton to have an excellent level of cancer care on our doorsteps at the Royal Bolton Hospital, plus all the knowledge and facilities of the Christie Hospital just a short journey away. But cancer treatment is not a five-minute fix; it’s a long, hard road and both the patients and those who care for them need expert support and help along the way.
A cancer information centre is just what we need to partner us on that journey, and it would be in exactly the right place alongside our wonderful local hospice with its expertise and care. We can only fervently hope that the plan goes full steam ahead.