Robert Fisk says the ball’s in Wes Streeting’s court now (Image: Daily Express/PA)
Gorging myself on a calorific, fat-filled full English breakfast for lunch, I sat and discussed the affairs of the day with colleagues. And while wiping a tomato-sauce-encrusted bean from my chin, I picked up a copy of the Daily Star someone had left on the table. Turning the front page, I was shocked to see someone I recognised on the third page. She was topless, and her picture was accompanied by a caption about buns and being a baker. I texted her on the short walk back to the office, and she replied that she’d forgotten to tell me she was doing Page 3 and that she was a bit annoyed about the caption, as she was doing a degree at university and wasn’t a baker.
It was almost 20 years ago, and I hadn’t thought about that moment until I checked Twitter (I know the official name is X, but it’s still Twitter to me) late last Thursday and saw that on the Daily Express’s front page for the following day was someone I recognised. It wasn’t my former housemate. It was me. It was a shock to see it on social media and then even more of a shock when it was mentioned on Sky News that night, and by Nick Ferrari on LBC the following day.
Read more: Moment Nick Ferrari grills health minister over Daily Express cancer campaign
Read more: ‘We’ve written to Wes Streeting to demand crucial NHS change for patients’
My big pink chemotherapy ravaged face was on the front cover of the newspaper that has been a part of my life ever since I was young, and I was always tasked with going to the shop and buying it for my granny.
Back then, my main priority was reading the Garfield cartoon on the walk home, but now my priorities are very different.
As someone with incurable bowel cancer, I’ve swapped cartoons for CT scans and chemotherapy sessions and have dedicated what’s left of my life to ensuring that cancer patients have access to mental health support both during and after treatment.
Anyone who read this column last week, or bought the paper with my big face on it, will know that I wrote to Wes Streeting last Wednesday as part of the Daily Express’s Cancer Care campaign explaining why this support is so vital, and calling on him and his colleague Ashley Dalton to meet with me before Labour launches its cancer plan for England on Wednesday (February 4).
And now, at the time of writing, we are playing the waiting game for an answer. I feel as nervous as I did when I emailed someone at a previous paper to ask them out (it’s not the best way to ask, but open-plan newsrooms and working in different departments on different shifts made it the only way).
Back then, she said no and said she was getting over a previous breakup. Today, there’s no reason for the Health Secretary to turn down our campaign requests.
I don’t want to date him, but I do want him to ensure all cancer patients have a “holistic needs assessment” after they receive their devastating diagnosis. This will give them a chance to talk about how they are feeling and work with their medical teams to get all the support they need.
And I want him to instruct hospital trusts to treat the mental health side effects of cancer by regularly monitoring how their patients are doing emotionally, and referring them to support when it is needed.
Some hospital bosses may say they can’t afford to do this with budgets being squeezed every day. I say they can’t afford not to, as it will improve the lives of millions of people now and in the future.
The Government needs to ensure all necessary funding is available for charities, hospitals, and other organisations, to give patients whatever help they need.
