Target Ovarian Cancer Awareness Stall - The Christie

Yesterday I joined Sarah Jeffrey from Target Ovarian Cancer for some awareness raising at The Christie. Sarah is the North West co-ordinator for Target Ovarian Cancer. She joined the organisation in 2013 having considerable experience of working in the voluntary/charity sector and lives in the North West. If you listened to Sue's radio interview on BBC Radio Merseyside you would have heard Sarah talking about Ovarian Cancer.

Due to much faffage in the morning I was running a little bit behind and was worried I might be late as I had another appointment prior to meeting up with Sarah. I decided to use my road bike to cycle. Now so far the furthest I have cycled on my bike since I stopped chemotherapy has been 2.4 miles then I had to get off and walk the rest of the way. I

managed to cycle down to my GP easily enough as I have cycled this route a couple of times now. Then I decided to follow part of the Fallowfield Loopline and down the back roads to The Christie. I had to get off the bike after crossing Mauldeth Road West and walk for a little bit as i was feeling a bit pooped.

After securing my bike in the cycle stand at The Christie I went in search of Sarah. I wasn't sure what Sarah looked like for some reason I had it in my head she was a brunette. I had a pretty good idea where she would be setting up but I walked past the information centre and there was someone putting up posters about some health related work scheme. I had a quick a quick look round outpatients and headed back. I was just going into the information centre to ask when Sarah spotted me.

Sarah Jeffrey Target Ovarian Cancer

We were sharing the display boards with The Christie but there was plenty of room to put up some posters and put out all the leaflets and cards of both symptoms and information for women with ovarian cancer.

The location was excellent as we were on the link between the Oak Road Treatment Centre and the main part of the building so there was plenty of foot traffic and it was very busy when we were trying to set up.

I have done events like this many times before in my previous professional life but it is still always a bit nerve racking speaking to the general public about issues that are important to you. However everyone we spoke to seemed very interested. There was a mix

of visitors and patients. Some of the women with ovarian cancer that visited the stall had were unfamiliar with the work of Target Ovarian and we were able to chat to them and send them away with arms full of leaflets. I remember chatting to one woman about the symptoms of ovarian cancer and I was pleased that she had seen the Be Clear on Ovarian Cancer advert on TV. I was able to tell her about some of the other symptoms and my own personal story.

The morning flew by very quickly and it was a pleasure to meet and help Sarah out on the stall I am glad she accepted the post of North West Co-ordinator. I hung out for an extra hour because I knew that Hilary was coming up from Stoke to help out in the afternoon and I wanted to say hello and have a quick catch up on how she is doing.

All in all I thought it was a very productive morning and I am glad I volunteered to help and according to the Moves app I cycled a total of 6.8 miles - get in!