Fred is purchasing 10 tickets for this show. We are sorting out the date at the moment, since the original Sunday 3rd December is the only date the show doesn’t run! Check back for an update.
If you’d like a ticket, please confirm with Fred. We normally meet up in the lobby bar at 6.30 to 7.00 to get a drink before the show starts.
Hi all, just a quick reminder that our meeting, as always, is on the first Wednesday of the month, which happens to fall on the 1st of November this year.
Meeting is at the usual venue: Longton and Meir Royal British Legion at 7.30 pm.
The festive season is just round the corner, and we’ll be having our usual Christmas fundraising raffle. Please give some thought to bringing along any raffle prizes next Wednesday. They will be safely stored till the Party night. More details on party night at a later date. Many people bring prizes on the night. That’s fine too!
Hi all, just a quick reminder that our regular meeting is coming up fast. Fred is bringing some of the china ‘Headcases’ mugs for sale. These are priced at £2.50, with all proceeds going to our funds. The mugs are actually made by Wedgwood and are very high quality. I’ve had a couple for years, and can vouch for them being totally dishwasher proof, robust and very nice to drink out of! Here’s some pics…
We also recently printed a new batch of the tri-fold leaflets that the CNSs give to patients and carers at the Hospitals.
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Just a quick reminder our next meeting is tomorrow at the usual place and time. I’ve received apologies in advance from one couple who caught Covid travelling back from their holiday. In addition we’re not expecting to see our Chairman as he’s feeling under the weather.
Look forward to seeing you all there, and welcoming any new friends for the first time.
Hi all, we had a very well attended meeting this month. It was great to introduce Hannah Powell, our latest Clinical Nurse Specialist. We had an introduction session so that our new friends could get to know everyone a little faster. This took a while to complete, as we had 27 at the meeting! A big welcome to our new friends. I hope we’ll see you all again at the September gathering.
You’ll be aware from the July meeting notes that the group has purchased a Laerdal portable suction machine for the Head and Neck department. Here’s a photo to show what it looks like. This can be loaned out to patients to use at home after suitable training at the hospital. Thanks to all who have made contributions to our funds – they make a real difference.
Suction Machine
Apologies to Hannah for the late delivery of their new business cards. We had 500 printed, but they missed off an ‘l’ in Hannah’s name so they are being reprinted! Shouldn’t be long…
Our September meeting is coming up fast. See you all on 6th at 7.30pm, Longton and Meir British Legion
We were pleased to welcome three new friends at our July meeting. A total of 17 people attended.
Jacqui announced that her team has been joined by a new Specialist Nurse: Hannah Powell. We’ll be designing and printing a new batch of business cards to reflect this development.
Headcases are happy to support the Hospital department in any way we can. Our latest donation will buy a suction machine and carry case: total value £958.31. The machine is not yet available for use, as the procedures have to be followed in a set sequence including the involvement of the UHNM Charity team before an order can be placed.
We agreed to make a donation to the Legion in recognition of the support they give to our group. This year, the donation will be £50.00.
Hi folks, just a quick reminder that our next Headcases meeting will be at the usual 19.30 time at the Longton Royal British Legion Club.
Look forward to seeing you all there…
Just a quick reminder that our next meeting is a couple of days away at the normal time of 7.30pm at the Longton Royal British Legion Club.
Hope to see you all there!
At the end of our June meeting, Dan and Lisa made us aware of a fundraising effort by their workmates. This was the National 3 Peaks Challenge. They raised over £1000.00 last year so Dan and Lisa could have a special holiday. There was some money left over after the holiday, and Dan and Lisa have generously donated a cheque for £100.00 to Headcases. Below is a photo of Fred receiving the cheque from Dan and Lisa. Our thanks to them both for this generous donation.
The National Three Peaks Challenge involves climbing the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales, often within 24 hours.
The total walking distance is 23 miles (37km) and the total ascent is 3064 metres (10,052ft) – twice the ascent of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks over a similar total walking distance. The total driving distance is 462 miles.
I’ll leave Lisa and Dan to thank the team who did the walk via the original facebook post. The single photo is the driver, who stayed awake the whole 24 hours as well as covering a huge distance. Pige, the mountain tour guide, Cat, Spence, Rob and Unders made up the team. As a veteran of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, I can confirm this was a huge effort by the team!
We had a great turnout to see Julie Parry’s presentation on Speech and Language Therapy in relation to head and neck cancer. Julie is an SLT Therapist based at Royal Stoke. The meeting was held in the larger room, so Julie could use a projector to illustrate her talk with a series of slides, and she also provided handouts of the slides for later reference. Around 25 were present.
A big thank you to Julie from all of us for a very informative and interesting evening. Despite having an extremely busy work life, Julie gave up her own time to do this. Plenty of questions arose both during and after the talk and a lot of discussion within the group ensued.
Receiving a diagnosis for any form of head and neck cancer is a huge blow, and in the early days it’s hard to take much information in. At some stage, a consultant will list the possible side-effects of the treatment (usually a long list!) and somewhere on the list will be speech and language issues. These include difficulties with swallowing, chewing, taste and other aspects of eating and drinking.
The three ‘rollercoaster’ stages for patients are Diagnosis, Treatment and immediate Post Treatment. I think it’s fair to say that there is little time to discuss or really understand SLT problems during these phases so it was really useful to spend time away from a hospital setting to have all the aspects explained so clearly. Many, if not most of the patients at the meeting have experienced at least some of the problems, and I think it’s always a bit of a relief to realise you’re not the only one going through it. Some may not have realised that there ARE things that can help, even long after treatment so the session ended on a positive note.
