Calling For Walkers To Step Out And Make A Difference For Mouth Cancer

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 14 Apr 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Every 3 hours someone dies from Mouth Cancer.

Mouth Cancer kills 1 in 2 people diagnosed due to late detection.

Mouth Cancers have a higher proportion of deaths per number of cases than breast cancer, cervical cancer or skin melanoma.

These are the shocking facts from the Mouth Cancer Foundation who are determined to raise awareness for the cancer about which little is known and they need your/dental professionals/health care professionals/etc etc help. Today the country's leading Mouth Cancer charity is launching details of their annual FREE 10 Km sponsored walk.

Capitalising on the huge success of past sponsored walking events the Mouth Cancer Foundation is holding another 10km sponsored walk again this year on Saturday 20th September 2008 at 14:00 (13:00 arrival) in Hyde Park, London. This event will take the form of a giant sponsored walk with people from all over the UK travelling to the capital to take part.

Money raised from the walk will help improve the support for Mouth Cancer Survivors such as 24 year old Michelle Morton from Hastings, East Sussex. Michelle knows first hand the devastating effect Mouth Cancer can have on a family. Michelle was diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in June 2006 at 22 years old! Michelle was treated at The Sussex Cancer Centre & the Royal Sussex hospital in Brighton. During her treatment Michelle dropped to 6stone 10lb, and was vomiting every day for about 2/3months! After a gruelling recovery Michelle is now happy, health and cancer free.

The Mouth Cancer Walk has a wealth of support from within the medical profession as well as high profile personalities.

Sales Director at Optident, John Maloney says "We have recently started to sell a product called Velscope for oral cancer screening. Through our work and after gathering statistics about Mouth Cancer in the UK we were very surprised to find that the statistics have not changed considerably for nearly four decades. The Mouth Cancer Foundation has worked very hard but there is still only growing awareness of this disease. Several people at work have also been directly affected by cancer so we really wanted to raise money for a good cause".

Double Commonwealth Gold and Olympic Swimming Champion Sharron Davies MBE says "I would encourage everyone to join in the FREE Mouth Cancer Awareness Walk in Hyde Park on Saturday 20th September. The Mouth Cancer Awareness Walk is a fantastic opportunity to get out, get active and raise awareness of this deadly disease. It is crucial for the public to become more aware of the symptoms of this silent killer. By taking part in the Mouth Cancer Awareness Walk you will be literally saving lives".

And pop star and Atomic Kitten Band member Natasha Hamilton says "Mouth Cancer is a disease that has affected my family as it is how my Nan died. The Mouth Cancer Foundation raises awareness of Mouth Cancer and I am pleased to be supporting their latest initiative, the FREE 10 km Mouth Cancer Walk which is a great way to have fun and draw attention to this little known, but deadly disease".

Dr Nadeem Zafar, President of the Anglo-Asian Odontological Group (AOG*), said "The AOG is proud to be sending a team of member dentists to participate in this year's Mouth Cancer Walk on Saturday 20 September 2008 in Hyde Park London to raise awareness, especially among the Asian community! In addition to the risk factors of smoking and chewing tobacco, mouth cancer occurs more frequently among people who chew areca nuts, betel nuts, paan and gutka - a common practice among some people in India and Asia".

The Founder of the Mouth Cancer Foundation Dr Vinod Joshi says "The 2008 Mouth Cancer Walk plans to be bigger and brighter than ever now that we've moved the date to September. This is an opportunity for the public and professionals, especially within the dental health profession and trade, to join together to make big noise in Hyde Park London about mouth cancer, loud enough for everyone to take notice!"

There will be FREE mouth cancer screening on the day, plus prizes available for top individual and team fundraisers as well as top individual and team awareness raisers. Costumes are invited if you're feeling brave!"

Walking is fun, free, easy, burns calories and saves lives! Surprisingly most of the population in the UK need to get out and walk more. Walking is excellent exercise in the fight against cancer.

To take part in the FREE Mouth Cancer Foundation 10K Sponsored Walk visit http://www.mouthcancerwalk.org

Notes

* The AOG is a leading dental organisation for educational and charitable activities as well as Asian-themed social events. The AOG has chosen the Mouth Cancer Foundation as its chosen charity for its last two Annual Balls in November, helping raise awareness and over £2,000 in donations. More information at http://www.aoguk.org.

The Mouth Cancer Foundation is a registered charity no. 1109298.

The Mouth Cancer Foundation was established in June 2004 to be a professional support organisation solely dedicated to supporting people with mouth, throat and other head & neck cancer face the crisis of cancer. Cancer can occur in any part of the mouth, tongue, lips, throat, salivary glands, pharynx, larynx, sinus, and other sites located in the head and neck area. In its very early stages, Mouth Cancer can be almost invisible making it easy to ignore. In the UK, there were 7,697 new cases reported in 2004 and 2,718 deaths in 2005.

Symptoms include:

1. A sore or ulcer in the mouth that does not heal within 3 weeks
2. A lump or overgrowth of tissue anywhere in the mouth
3. A white or red patch on the gums, tongue, or lining of the mouth
4. Difficulty in swallowing, chewing or moving the jaw or tongue
5. Numbness of the tongue or other area of the mouth
6. A feeling that something is caught in the throat
7. A chronic sore throat or hoarseness that persists more than 6 weeks
8. Swelling of the jaw that causes dentures to fit poorly or become uncomfortable
9. Neck swelling present for more than 3 weeks
10. Unexplained tooth mobility persisting for more than 3 weeks

Mouth Cancer Foundation