Aisling Barry, Professor at University College Cork, shared on LinkedIn:
“Today is World Radiotherapy Awareness Day.
For those of us who work day in day out treating people with a cancer diagnosis with radiotherapy we know just how effective radiotherapy can be as a treatment in its own right, or in combination with other cancer treatments.
Radiotherapy literally cures cancer.
People survive their cancer diagnosis because of radiotherapy. Radiotherapy helps people live a life where symptoms, such as pain, are controlled enabling them to continue to do things that matter to them….the school drop off, hugging their grandkids, walking the dog….
However, radiotherapy is a cancer treatment modality that is too often overlooked, or not considered in the clinic, in research, in policy….
Over the past year, we have advocated strongly for the Government to take a proactive approach by establishing a rolling replacement programme for radiotherapy equipment. Promising progress has been made, but much more needs to be done to ensure our patients receive the very best care.
On this World Radiotherapy Awareness Day, I ask my colleagues, I ask our patients, and I ask you to always think about radiotherapy.
It may not be appropriate at that particular moment in time, but if we don’t ask, we don’t know. Every single one of my radiation oncology colleagues would be happy to take a call at any time to discuss whether radiotherapy could make a difference for a patient.”
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