July is Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Month (EMCAM) in the UK giving us the prefect opportunity to focus on how the black community is affected by cancer and to raise awareness within our community. Overall the black community is slightly less likely to develop cancer than the white population but there are some cancers that are of particular concern. These are:

• Prostate cancer – black men are two times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men
• Cervical cancer – black women over the age of 65 are more likely to develop cervical cancer than their white counterparts
• Myeloma – the black community is 2-3 times more likely to develop myeloma, develop it at a slightly younger age and have poorer survival rates.
• Breast cancer – black women although less likely to develop breast cancer than white women are more likely to die from it and black women tend to develop breast cancer at a younger age than white women

In addition to this, research over the years has found that awareness of symptoms and uptake of cancer services, such as cancer screening, is lower in the black community. This leads to many black cancer patients being diagnosed at a late stage when their cancer is harder to treat, leading to lower cancer survival rates. We can change this by increasing awareness, taking prompt action if we notice symptoms and taking part in the breast, bowel and cervical cancer screening programmes.

This Year’s Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Month (EMCAM)

This year EMCAM is focusing on raising awareness of bowel cancer and the importance of screening. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK with over 33,000 new cases diagnosed every year and it is more common in people over the age of 50. If caught early this cancer can be treated very successfully therefore screening and being aware of the symptoms is very important.

Bowel Cancer Screening

In the UK, everyone aged 60-74 is invited to take part in the bowel screening programme but participation is very low with only 50-60% of 60-74 year olds taking part. We encourage everyone to take part; it a very simple and straightforward process. Sample collection takes place in the comfort of your own home and you can simply send your samples off in a freepost envelope. For more information on bowel screening please click here.

The Symptoms of Bowel Cancer

The symptoms of bowel cancer are:
• Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your faeces
• A change in bowel habit lasting for 3 weeks or more (constipation or diarrhoea)
• Unexplained weight loss
• Unexplained fatigue
• Persistent tummy pain
• A lump in your tummy

If you are experiencing one, some or all of these symptoms and they aren’t going away, don’t panic, your symptoms could be due to a number of reasons, but do visit your doctor to rule out bowel cancer.

Learn More About Bowel Cancer This Month

Bowel Cancer UK, the Department of Health and community groups across the UK are working together to host free bowel cancer information sessions and below are the dates and locations of these events.

Friday 17th July – Age UK – 81 Brigstock Road, Thornton Health, CR7 7JH – 12 noon
Monday 20th July – The Sugar Group
Tuesday 21st July – CVA Resource Centre – 82 London Road, CR0 2TB – 12 noon
Saturday 25th July – Croydon BME forum – 387 London Road, CR0 3PB – 12 noon
Sunday 26th July – BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Temple – 75 Pitmaston Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, B28 9PP – 1pm
Monday 27th July – Pannel Croft Village – Pannel croft Newtown Birmingham B19 2YD – 2pm.
Wednesday 29th July – Wai Yin Chinese Elderly Group

For more information about bowel cancer please visit Bowel Cancer UK’s website.

Last Friday, we were absolutely delighted to be back at Croydon Arena for another round of summer cycling sessions.  We started these sessions last summer after teaming up with the Cycling Instructor with support from Croydon Council and as it went so well we decided to run the sessions again this year.

Friday’s session was the first in a series of four sessions which will run once a week throughout the month of July. The aims of the sessions are to improve confidence in cycling, prepare attendees for road cycling, teach basic cycling techniques and introduce people to an enjoyable way to get some exercise.

This first session was great fun and it was nice to see Brian from the Cycling Instructor again, he led the group last year and did a fantastic job so we were happy he was back with us again this year.  We were also really pleased with the turnout, there were ten of us and it was a really mixed group in terms of age, ethnicity and cycling ability, plus everyone was really friendly;  all the right ingredients for an enjoyable session.

After a round of introductions it was on to the serious part of the session, technique. We learnt how to check that our bikes are road worthy and then were instructed on the proper way to get on and off a bike, maintaining balance, braking properly,  riding with one hand (preparation for signalling) and cycling slowly (to prepare for cycling in traffic).

We were all given plenty of opportunity to practice all these techniques making this a very informative but practical session, and at the end of the two hours we had cycled several times around the track so we got some good exercise too!

The next session will be on Friday 10^th July at 6pm at Croydon Arena.  Please email events@thelakefoundation.com to register or call 07440 146 645, and you can download our flyer below for more information.

We would like to say a big thank you to the Cycling Instructor and Croydon Council for giving us the opportunity to run this cycling group.

On 18^th June we were invited by Croydon Council to have a stall at the first annual Croydon Voluntary and Community Fair. This event was organised to allow charities and community groups in Croydon to showcase their work to attendees which included frontline Croydon Council staff, the general public, potential funders and representatives from the private sector.

We had a wonderful time on the day as it gave us the perfect opportunity to meet other charities to learn more about their great work, discuss ideas and get advice on common challenges. We were particularly delighted to meet Fatima Koroma from the Community Food Bank and learn of the work they’re doing to support vulnerable families and individuals. Additionally, it was wonderful to learn about the Mighty Men of Valour and the Ministry of Empowerment who are working to support and empower men and women in Croydon.

Speaking on the day was the mayor of Croydon, Councillor Patricia Hay-Justice who officially launched the fair and Councillor Mathew Kyeremeh, the deputy cabinet member for communities, safety and justice.

This was a really useful day allowing us to raise awareness of our work, connect with some really inspirational people and meet representatives from Croydon Council in person.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Croydon Council for organising this event and also for their generosity in designing and donating pull-up conference banners to every single stallholder. We love our new banner!

On Sunday 14^th June we had the pleasure of delivering a black health awareness workshop at the Right Now Jesus Centre in Catford.  It was wonderful to work with such an enthusiastic, friendly and energetic congregation; it was really a fun two hours, despite the serious topic.

During the workshop we covered type two diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, prostate cancer and fibroids. We talked about what these conditions are, their risk factors and why they are more common in the black community. We also asked the congregation to work in groups to discuss these issues and encouraged attendees to  adopt a healthy lifestyle by eating a healthy  diet and getting active. We went into detail on some of the specific changes that people can make to achieve a healthier lifestyle and finished off the workshop by asking attendees to think about three things that they will change as they work towards a adopting a healthy lifestyle.

This was  really good event and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with such an engaged audience.

“This workshop was beautifully presented!”

“Excellent, I learnt a lot.”

“Very informative.”

Fifty is a pivotal age. It’s a time when many will be at the peak of their careers, their families will be blossoming and there is a greater understanding of self. It’s also a time when many take stock, analyse their life to date, asses their achievements and start to re-prioritise to ensure that they’re focusing their energy on the important areas in their life. At The Lake Foundation we believe it’s extremely important that this assessment that occurs as we enter a new pivotal decade includes a review of our health.

As we get older our risk of developing a number of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease increases so as we get older we must make our health more of a priority. It’s true that the habits we cultivated when we were  younger and the way we lived our lives prior to hitting fifty will have shaped our current health but we can take steps today to improve our health and ensure we are in the best shape possible going forward and more importantly, we are happy.

In essence keeping healthy as we get older means being proactive and focusing on three main areas: changing our lifestyle (if we need to), being aware and making sure we’re up-to-date with all our relevant health checks and screening.

Changing your lifestyle can seem daunting but it needn’t be. Small changes can make a big difference.  What we’re looking for is for you to be more active, eat a healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight. All of which will make a significant difference to reducing your risk of a number of diseases.

When it comes to diet if you’re not already receiving advice for an existing condition we would recommend that you:

• Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day
• Reduce your salt, sugar and saturated fat intake
• Reduce your red meat consumption
• Eat more fish – at least two portions of fish a week including one oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel etc)
  • Note: Oily fish is a great source of omega-3  fatty acids which research suggests may prevent heart disease
  • Note:  Adults and boys shouldn’t consume more than 4 portions of oily fish a week  whilst women and girls planning to become pregnant in the future shouldn’t consume more than 2 portions of oily fish a week
• Drink less alcohol
• Eat more fibre, it can help to prevent heart disease,  some cancer  and improve digestive health
  • Examples of food that are a good source of fibre include:  brown rice, brown bread, pulses (chickpeas, lentils etc), fruit,vegetables, porridge and bran based cereals

Another aspect of keeping healthy is to get active and this is especially important as we get older.  Being inactive has been linked to a number of health conditions including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke so by being more active you can significantly reduce your risk of developing these conditions. Exercise also has a number of other benefits such as it strengthens our bones, improves our mood and improves our mobility.

The government recommends that  we do 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week and this can be divided up into 30 minutes of exercise 5 days during the week. Additionally, on two or more days a week our exercise session should include some muscle strengthening exercises that work on all muscle groups (legs, hips, back abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).

Finally, it’s very important to maintain a healthy weight as being overweight or obese is linked to a number of diseases. Losing weight as we get older can be challenging because our metabolism slows down, i.e. the rate at which we burn the calories from the food we eat slows down. This means that if we continue to eat the same quantity of food that we ate 10 or 20 years ago we won’t be burning the calories as effectively and the excess calories will turn into fat. To combat this we have to look at our portion sizes and make sure we control them. In terms of weight we should all be aiming for a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 to 24.9.

As we get older we must all endeavour to eat healthy, keep active and maintain a healthy weight. This will ensure that we reduce our risk of developing a number of conditions;  we remain fit and mobile;  we improve our mood and wellbeing and ultimately have a better quality of life.

We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded a Support Group Start-up Grant from Macmillan Cancer Support. This grant will help us reach more of our community and ensure that we can help as many people as possible.

Our support group started in June 2014 thanks to a grant from Croydon Council and it’s facilitated by a trained counsellor, Hazel Williams. The group provides an informal, friendly environment to connect with people who have been affected by cancer, share experiences and learn how to cope with a cancer diagnosis.

Our support group members have found the sessions to be very useful and have said the following about the group:

“The facilitator was very insightful and had a lot of meaningful things to say. She gave me a lot to think about.”

“The relaxation and mindfulness session was really useful.”

“I was feeling very down and really wasn’t going to attend but I am glad that the organisers called me and picked me up. I found the session to be very useful and I am so glad that I came.”

The group meets on the first Wednesday of the month from 4pm – 6pm at 3Space in Croydon. If you’d like more information about our support group or would like to attend please email us at info@thelakefoundation.com or call 07440 146 645.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Macmillan Cancer Support, we really appreciate their support and look forward to putting this grant to good use.

In this week’s blog, Abi Begho discusses her Walk to Work Week challenge.

Last week was Walk to Work Week and I got involved by walking part of my journey to and from work all last week. This was a great opportunity to get some much-needed exercise and I was amazed at just how much I was able to achieve by making some very simple changes to my journey to work.

I started off on Monday 11^th May. I was heading to central London and decided to substitute the 7-minute tram journey from Addiscombe to East Croydon train station with a lovely early morning walk.  This was a great way to start the morning, it took about 25 minutes, and along the way, I had the opportunity to see my neighbourhood in a whole new light; the lovely houses, the cute kids heading to nursery and the shopkeepers getting ready for a day of trading.  When I got to East Croydon Station a quick glance at my pedometer completely shocked me, I had racked up 3,977 steps! Whey hey!

During the rest of the day, I made a conscious effort to walk as much as I could so I walked to meetings, took a walk at lunchtime, walked up stairs and walked part of my journey back home. At the end of the day, a final glance at my pedometer informed me I had walked 12,087 steps! I was very pleased as the recommended number of steps we should take a day is 10,000.

The rest of the week was much the same although some days were not so good. I peaked at 15,173 steps on 12^th May due to a trip to Birmingham that saw me doing a lot of walking as I opted to walk between train stations and skipped the taxi journeys I would normally take and walked to and from my meeting. My low point was a terrible 3,268  steps on the last day of Walk to Work Week. On this day I was working close to home and because I was carrying my heavy laptop I jumped on the tram, but I did walk up 5 flights of stairs!

I really enjoyed my little Walk to Work Week experiment and I’ve decided to introduce more walking into my commute to work. I’ll be skipping the tram and walking to East Croydon station from now on. I’m going to force myself to do 10,000 steps a day.

We’re so excited to once again team up with the Cycling Instructor with support from Croydon Council to provide free cycling sessions over the summer. This is a fun way to get fit and active and can be a journey of discovery of the beauty of south London as we cycle through the many hidden green spaces along route 21.

This group has been organised as part of our drive to improve the health and wellbeing of the black community and it aims to: provide members with the opportunity to learn how to cycle; provide tips on cycling technique; improve confidence in cycling; prepare attendees for road cycling; and introduce an enjoyable way for people to get some exercise.

Last year we had a great time with our sessions being led by very experienced and friendly instructors from the Cycling Instructor. Our favourite sessions were the off-road cycling sessions where we discovered beautiful locations like South Norwood Country Park, the Waterlink Way and Riverpool Linear Park.

We’ll be starting on 3^rd July at 6pm at Croydon Arena.  Please do get in touch if you’d like to join us. You can email events@thelakefoundation.com  to book your place and to find out more. Our leaflet below also provides more details.

Friday is World Ovarian Cancer Day and this gives us the perfect opportunity to focus on a disease that gets very little attention.

In the UK, ovarian cancer is considered to be a rare cancer with 7,000 new cases diagnosed every year.  For those affected the statistics are unfairly bleak with only 43% of patients surviving for at least five years compared to 85% of breast cancer patients.  We can improve this by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer and ensuring that women and healthcare professionals take quick action should they recognise the symptoms.

Increased awareness leads to more patients being diagnosed at an early stage and early diagnosis does save lives;  92% of women diagnosed at an early stage will go on to live beyond 5 years.

Black women are less likely to develop ovarian cancer than white women but data does suggest that black women are more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage so raising awareness in the black community is very important.

So, this World Ovarian Cancer Day join the global movement to raise awareness by pledging to tell five women about the symptoms of ovarian cancer.

To sign the pledge and get more information visit the World Ovarian Cancer Day website and for more information about ovarian cancer please visit Ovarian Cancer Action’s website.

We’re currently working on developing a fibroids booklet to address some of the issues that came out of our fibroids survey last year. From the survey we found that:

• There was a general low level of awareness of fibroids amongst participants prior to their diagnosis.
• There was a good level of awareness of the main symptoms of fibroids but a low level of awareness of other symptoms.
• Participants were aware that ethnicity was a risk factor for fibroids but less aware of other risk factors.
• 80% percent of participants stated that they needed information but only 53% said that this was available to them.
• 63% of women said they didn’t feel that they had enough information to make an informed decision about their treatment

In addition to the above some participants stated that their biggest challenge in managing their condition was the lack of information and conflicting information about fibroids. For example, one participant said, “there is not enough information, particularly with regards to surgery alternatives and diet changes.”

What our booklet will cover

Our booklet will provide much-needed information on all aspects of fibroids. It will cover the symptoms of fibroids allowing women to quickly pick up on the possibility that they might have fibroids ensuring an early diagnosis which may mean less invasive treatment, the prevention of unnecessary pain and avoiding loss of fertility. It will also raise awareness of the risk factors and provide information on what changes women can make to their lifestyle to reduce their risk of developing fibroids and it will help women identify whether they are at a high risk of developing fibroids and therefore whether they should be more vigilant about recognizing symptoms and changing their lifestyle to reduce their risk. Finally, it will also cover treatment options so women are aware of what options are available to them.

We appreciate all those who have helped so far

We’re delighted to have had some excellent reviewers work with us. We would like to say a big thank you to Dr Nigel Hacking, Consultant Interventional Radiologist at Southampton University Hospital and Miss Rosol Hamid, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Head of Women Services at Croydon University Hospital for providing very useful and helpful comments and suggestions.  Additionally we’d also like to thank The Brielle Agency for proofreading our work .

We need your help for the final review

Now we are looking for members of the public to read the final draft before it goes off to our wonderful designers, Adinqra, and provide us with feedback on what needs to be improved. If you’d like to help please contact us on info@thelakefoundation.com