Touchlines

The Newsletter of Cancer Support France Association N W163000037

Patron: Prof. Alain Daban Consultant, service oncologie Radiothrapique du CHU Poitiers; Prsident du Reseau Onco Poitou Charentes

Volume 7 Issue 4

July 2011 Thank you

Thank you to those of you who congratulated me on my first month as Editor of Touchlines; your very kind comments were much appreciated. It was a pleasure to be able to take on this role and this month it has felt much easier. Many thanks to Andy for all his tips on using Microsoft Publisher. However, I must offer my sincere apologies for my error in inviting new advertising. As a result of that piece, an advertisement was submitted for approval but after some consideration, it was decided that the National Committee should consider the submission which resulted in a wide discussion about CSF accepting advertising and the implications which could arise. The process of accepting adverts originally was to offset costs, before Deus Svres took over the printing and the only advertising has been the 2 currently displayed in this issue, the Connexions newspaper and our original printers. The policy has always been to exclude anything with a medical or paramedical connotation. In line with the HONcode compliance regulations, we have chosen to refrain from further advertising once the current agreements have ended and we thank those advertisers for their continued support over the years. Linda Shepherd has suggested that it would be useful to build up a list of useful contacts, especially when they are known to be competent, such as the lady who sparked this discussion off. Perhaps the best location would be in our resources files so that AL's can refer to them when clients ask for suggestions such as 'do you have any information about complementary practitioners in the area' or 'is it possible to get an alarm call service here?' Whether such a list could appear in the practical Help section of the web site would depend on the constraints imposed by the HonCode guidelines. Alex Overton has also suggested that we could perhaps refer to our sponsors. No doubt, discussion on our advertising policy will be concluded at national level and again my apologies to all concerned. Margaret York
Imprim par nos soins

In this issue
Medical Report P. 2

National Awareness Week events Odds and Ends In the News CSF Website News

P. 3

P. 4

Calendar of Events

P. 5

Around the Regions -

P. 6-10

The Treasurers Spot and News Round-up

P. 11

Useful Information

P. 12

Medical Report
Just a bit of Back Ache? During a recent training session someone remarked that a friend had been lucky to have her colon cancer diagnosed because she hadnt got any symptoms but had just gone to the doctors with a bit of back ache. In fact the friend did have a symptom - backache - but she didnt realise the possible cause. Just about every one of us will have had some back ache at some time or other and being a symptom that is so common maybe we come to regard it almost as normal. The vast majority of back pain will be caused by benign causes such as muscular strain, disc problems or osteoporosis but about 1% of the patients seen in a general practitioners surgery with back pain will have a serious cause. Targeted Therapy is Best
Clearly it is better for patients if the treatment for their cancer can be targeted to their specific cancer rather a blunderbuss approach and so it is with breast cancer. There are already tests that determine treatment options such as the test to see if a particular womens tumour is sensitive to oestrogen. If it is, then

they will be given one of a choice of drugs that suppress oestrogen e.g. Tamoxifen or Arimidex for 5 years, and the converse is that those women whose tumour is not affected by oestrogen are relieved from the necessity of taking these drugs. Now there is a predictive test that allows women to judge whether they should have chemotherapy or not. It is only suitable for women with a slow-growing early-stage cancer, with no more than 3 lymph nodes affected and whose cancers are oestrogen-receptor positive. These women would currently be advised to have chemotherapy as well as an oestrogen suppressant and radiotherapy.

The pain from cancer in the spine is different from most other causes it is usually unremitting, boring in nature and not relieved by rest, in fact it is often worse at night and causes loss of sleep. It is often quite localised to a small area of the spine. Uncommonly the pain is of very The test, Oncotype DX, is a genomic assay sudden onset and is severe because the tumour which takes a sample of RNA from the cancer cells had caused the vertebrae to collapse. and analyses the genes which control the behaviour of the cancer and gives a score as to But I want to stress the importance of not how likely this cancer is to recur within 10 years. ignoring persistent back pain because it might be On the basis of a low, medium or high risk of the first sign of a cancer or of a secondary from a recurrence the patient can then use this known cancer. The vast majority of these cancers knowledge with her oncologist to decide whether will be metastases from a primary cancer or not to have chemotherapy. Although the test elsewhere such as breast, lung, prostate, kidney, itself costs about 2,500 the gain for the woman is ovary or colon. And it is really important to that she may be spared debilitating treatment remember that these metastases can happen which is unlikely to improve her survival. For the many years after the patient (and doctors) think health services the cost of the test will be that the cancer was cured, so everybody who has recouped by the fact that, according to experience ever had a diagnosis of cancer must remain so far, about 25% of women will not need vigilant. The investigation of choice is an MRI scan chemotherapy. There is a good account in The of the spine as x-rays may not detect the lesion. Daily Telegraph, 20th June 2011. And apart from treatment of the cancer in general Dr Sue Murphy the good news is that radiotherapy is usually very effective in reducing the pain even in patients with advanced cancer. (Editors note; On the Telegraph website search for Oncotype DX to easily find this article)
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CANCER SUPPORT FRANCE NATIONAL AWARENESS WEEK 24TH30TH SEPTEMBER 2011 (Planned events) LANGUEDOCSAVE THE DAY Cancer Support France Languedoc Walk for Life
As part of Cancer Support France Awareness week on a national level, CSF-Languedoc are organising a sponsored walk on Sunday 25 September in Bessilles Park near Montagnac. Participants will have the choice of a 6km or a 13.5km trail to walk or run before a convivial lunch at the park caf or in the picnic area. Do put the date on your diary for a fun day out. Come and join us for the exercise, to walk for someone close to you affected by cancer or simply to support our work. Details for registration will be available shortly. You will be able to register through a dedicated email address and receive your sponsorship form electronically. If you do not wish to be sponsored, a 5 participation fee will be payable on the day (children free).
The opening moments of our June 2010 book sale in Prayssac which raised over 700

SO SAVE THE DAY! SUNDAY, 25th SEPTEMBER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DORDOGNE EST & LOT COFFEE MORNING & AFTERNOON TEA INCORPORATING ANOTHER SALE OF ENGLISH BOOKS
To make space for better storage for the constant intake of books, we are holding a grand clearance sale of books in MARGARETs barn in PRAYSSAC on SUNDAY, 25TH SEPTEMBER COMBE BRUNE, 46220 PRAYSSAC 10.0017.00 Contact: Margaret 05 65 22 96 37
E

Email: csfdordognelot@yahoo.com
Volume 7 Issue 4 Page 3

Odds and Ends

Its seems as though its been a quiet month for many associations but we managed to gather in just about enough copy; too much for an 8 page issue but not enough for a 12-page one. So, as you can see, there are a couple of new items. First of all, the previous page is dedicated to events taking place during our National Awareness Week in September. It was probably a bit early to have more events arranged but there will still be time for them to appear in the next issue of Touchlines on September 1st.

CSF Website
Alex Overton, our tireless Webmaster, is working very hard on upgrading our website and its beginning to look very different to one weve been used too. There is a very modern look to it and the new Donate tab is very prominent. Back issues of Touchlines are there, right up to date with the May edition and I see we now have the HONcode logo displayed: -

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information

The second new feature, the Calendar of Events is one that Id like to make a regular feature Very soon, we will all have our authorisation of. For its first outing, Ive lifted information which will enable us to update our Association pages gleaned from submitted copy for this month. I ourselves. All content will be moderated with hope you think this has some value. All copy should continue to be submitted by 10th of the month preceding publication but Im The new web address is: happy to receive this at any time prior to then. Please continue to send to: www.cancersupportfrance.org csfdordognelot@yahoo.com Thank you.
moderation being carried out by a dedicated group volunteers of whom, Andy Shepherd will be one.

In the News
Theres a lot being written about the outcome for Ex-Pats who have been denied access to the French healthcare system following changes for those under retirement age . The following piece is quoted on : www.thisfrenchlife.com via www.french-property.com France is to relax its rules on the admission of expat early retirees into the French health system. The change of policy has come about after pressure from the European Commission, who consider France is in breach of EU regulations by requiring early retirees to have five years residence before they can obtain health cover. As a result the French Ministry of Health is to issue new guidance on the right of access to the health system. There are many articles being published on this subject including www.connexionfrance.com and www.thefrenchpaper.com so it would be wise to keep pace with them.
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Calendar of Events (Excluding Awareness Week)

Basse Normandie SaturdayJuly 2nd Notre Dame du Touchet Annual garden party Contact: Jenny 02 33 60 27 82 csfbassenormandie@gmail.com Deux Svres SaturdayJuly 2nd L'Eglise de Foussais-Payr Three Choirs Concert featuring The River City Chorale from Sacramento, United States The Choraline from La Chtaigneraie and The Musicalement Vtre from Moncoutant Tickets available from the Tourist Bureaux at Fontenay-le-Compte and La Chtaigneraie or telephone 02 51 51 64 29 (English) 05 49 80 19 72 (French) Proceeds to go to Cancer Support Vende, Cancer Support Deux-Svres and All Saints Church, Puy de Serre Charente Plus SundayJuly 10th (09.30-12.30) La Betoulie, near La Bouchage, 16350 Book Sale (Emlyn and Rosemarys garden) Contact: Charente Plus Team Dordogne Est & Lot ThursdayOctober 13th (10.00-12.00) La Salle Basse, Salviac Who cares for the Carer? A short seminar by Angela Clohessy Contact: csfdordognelot@yahoo.com Dordogne Sud Saturday19th November Montedon Christmas Fayre Contact: Frances Nunn frances.nunn@live.co.uk

Gascony MondayJuly 18th At Lynn Kilbeys home Wellbeing Day

~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday28th July Near Eauze, Gers Musical picnic lunch with a blind auction
(1st formal function of a new satellite group)
All money raised at this event is being donated to CSF

~~~~~~~~~~~~
SaturdayJuly 16th Gourg CSF Deux Svres will be having a stall At the local Fte/Vide Grenier Contact: Thelma Bell

Contact: John Docherty john.docherty@neuf.fr

TO SHOWCASE YOUR EVENT HERE, PLEASE SUBMIT AS PER THE NORMAL COPY DATE TO THE EDITOR

csfdordognelot@yahoo.com
Volume 7 Issue 4 Page 5

Around the Regions

CSF Basse Normandie
Life in Basse Normandie continues to be as busy as ever. The Day Centre opens every Monday and we have had a number of expert speakers giving a general view on areas such as herbs and sacrocranial therapy. People continue to just pop in for information and advice on a regular basis and very often end up staying the whole day and having lunch. On Friday, 20th May we had a Sausage and Cider evening at the Day Centre. Eighty people feasted on sausages of various flavours including pork and marmite, pork and peppers and Madras! A local shop selling English produce called Barentons also donated 250 chipolatas so there were plenty to go around all washed down by a local artisans cider. We also had a very challenging quiz put together by one of the volunteers, Bob Clarke, which I am not sure if it got easier or harder the more cider that was consumed! On behalf of everyone at CSF Basse Normandie, I would like to say a great big thank you and well done it is a fantastic personal achievement and obviously the funds will be put to a good cause in due course.

Jenny PoatNantes to Brest Canal

We have also have completed the updates and are having a big launch of the new CSF Basse Normandie website this week, it has taken a while to ensure that it had the right atmosphere and information content and we are really pleased with the finished results. To have a look at it please go along to www.csfbassenormandie.com and we would appreciate any feedback good or bad that anyone has to offer! Events coming up are our annual garden Party on July 02nd in Notre Dame du Touchet, we provide the picnic, live music and party atmosphere and you bring a bottle and chair and soak up that atmosphere hopefully on a sun drenched afternoon!! Fingers crossed. Tickets are 10 for adults and 6 for children and if you would like one or more information then please contact Jenny on 02 33 60 27 82 or csfbassenormandie@gmail.com. Of course if anyone would like information about anything concerning the Basse Normandie group or if you need support in any way then please contact us on the above number and e mail and we will be only too pleased to help in any way. Jenny Luck
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Sausage and Cider evening

One major achievement that I would like to highlight was done by one of our members; Jennie Poate completed a long distance cycle ride in her own words, partly for me and partly to raise money for a good cause. Having been involved in a peripheral way with CSF Basse Normandie this was my chosen cause, along with the memory of my father dying in a horrible protracted way through lung cancer. She cycled the Brest to Nantes canal, 370kms in 5 days in prevailing winds and the opposite way around that the books recommend it is cycled!! At present she has raised a whopping 1,400 and it is still going up.

CSF Charente Plus

Our main news is that we are almost ready to go to press with the first of three booklets that we have had translated. As soon as it has been finalised it will be included in the cancer info website and as many links as we can manage. The file will be sent to Linda for distribution to all associations. We hope the next two booklets will follow as soon as the updates have been received from Inca. We are having a book sale on Sunday July 10th, 9.30-12.30 in the garden of Emlyn & Rosemary at La Betoulie, near La Bouchage, 16350. If you need to stock up for the winter months we have a lot to choose from. Tea and coffee will be available. We wish you all a happy summer.

As this is going to press we have had some much The Duck Day Race was held on 15th May and needed glorious rain!!! raised 1,125 for our funds. Sixty people enjoyed a The CSF Charente Plus team BBQ, played a few family type games, contributed to an auction and watched as 100 yellow plastic ducks moved less than gracefully down the river Charente on a windy afternoon in Vouleme. One or two wayward CSF Deux Svres ducks were forced to swim upstream rather than downstream as a result of the wind, but they got there May and June have been quiet months but we in the end. We still have 100 ducks back in the box! have several new clients and also two new members of Youll see from the photos the small army of chefs for the team. the BBQ and some of the visitors we had for the afternoon. We say a big Thank You to all who helped On the 1st May we attended a Spring Fair at in whatever way they did, we certainly could not do it St. Germaine de Longue Chaume when we were able to without you all. give out many leaflets and talk to people about the work we do. At the end of the afternoon we were surprised and pleased to receive 100 from the organisers from their tea and cake sales so Thank you to Margaret and her team of tea ladies. It was a lovely surprise and very much appreciated. We are now getting ready for an event at Gourg on the 16th July where we hope to have a strong presence in order to once again raise awareness. In the meantime, there is a Concert to be held at Foussais-Payr on the 2nd July, when three choirs will be taking part - The River City Chorale from Sacramento, United States, the Choraline from La Chataigneraie and Musicalement Vtre from Moncoutant. Tickets are available from the Tourist Offices in Fontenay-le-Comte and La Chataigneraie. It should be a really good night and will benefit CSFDeux-Svres, CSF-Vende and All Saints Church in Puy de Serre. We will be there helping with refreshments and once again hoping to raise awareness. Thelma Bell

Keith, Judy, Mik, Sue, Paul & Dave

Volume 7 Issue 4

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CSF Dordogne Est & Lot Summer Foire, Vide Grenier and Book Sale
What a busy month its been for our Public Relations and Events Co-ordinator, Julia Hall who worked extremely hard on organising our summer foire, vide grenier and book sale held on Sunday, June 19th. Local competition was tough as there were several taking place in the vicinity but we did well. With lovely weather and a great guitarist, Graham Bailey, the ambience was very nice. Following on from the very successful Evening with rugby diner in February, this event was hosted once again by Brian and Sandra at Le Chapeau Melon in Souillac. We had 2,500 books on offer which is about half of what we currently have. Our two new Committee Members, Tim and Sue Giles ran an excellent tombola. Also offering a variety of items for sale were a plant stall, a popular local lavender farm, jewellery, cards and gifts sellers, an artist, a reflexologist, as well as clothing rails and some car booters. All-in-all, a very worthwhile day for raising awareness in our lower northern area and funds of just under 700 were raised too. husband and wife team, Susanne and Malcolm Byrne. We are very lucky to have such a willing and dedicated team. Finally, a big thank you to our Area Training Coordinator, Sue Murphy and her co-trainer, Tony Benstead from Dordogne Sud. We are very grateful for them agreeing to come to us; thank you to both of you. Then general feedback from all the participants was the overall professionalism of both Sue and Tony as well as the well-designed Training Programme. A follow-up seminar is being held in July for all of our Active Listeners and Sue Murphy has offered to give a short talk on a specific cancer.

La Ligue
In May, we had a meeting with our local La Ligue association in Cahors. Our host, Dr Gluckler, was an absolutely charming gentleman and, despite some language difficulty, we understood that he was very pleased to meet us at last and at a very early stage of the meeting, he was referring to us as their sister association. We have agreed to share information and events from time-to-time and its good to know that if our clients do encounter difficulties within the French healthcare system, he will be happy to help. Im thankful to Trevor Cartwright in bringing this meeting onto our agenda and to our newly retained Translator, Rachel Worsfold for her initial and thank you letters as well as for making time to attend the meeting to help with translation.

Future Events
Some of the stallholders in the (very warm) conservatory

Training

On the 2nd and 3rd of June, four of our Active Listeners took part in the new Training Programme together with our newest Active Listener, Felicity Freeman who, all have agreed, will make an excellent Listener. My thanks go to our Training and Active Listener Co-ordinator, Elizabeth Holleis and her husband Konrad who provided the venue, excellent food (Konrad is a chef and author our CSF recipe book) Finally. and overnight accommodation for the trainers. Thanks Have a great summer from all at Dordogne Est & Lot must also go to Trevor Cartwright who took part in the training earlier this year. This time, he offered to be Margaret York the client and, I understand, played it well.! Other Active Listeners re-training were Lesley Blackman and
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Like most of us, we are actively preparing for the National Awareness Week and looking forward to once again promoting the valuable work carried out by our dedicated volunteers. We are also in the process of working towards more planned events leading up to the end of this year and into 2012. We will be hosting a First Aid Course in November. Julia is in discussions with a local golf club who have proposed a golf day, possibly in October. Another book sale is planned in Cahors nearer to Christmas.

CSF Dordogne Sud The Ribbon Fun Run 2011

The feel good factor, fitness and positivity seem to be the tone of our news! Recently we have received generous donations from The Plant Swap at Breuillh and The Fitness Group in Monflanquin. Our Treasurers hard work at the popular plant event helped publicise our work at the same time as swelling our coffers. Our President joined The Fitness Group in Montflanquin, who again organised a Fun Run to raise a substantial amount in order to support us, and in doing so beat their total for last year. This will help support our work throughout the coming year.

50 today......and so pleased to be getting older!

so reads the eye-catching advertisement for a recent Cancer Research UK campaign www.giveincelebration.org/favours which looks like a birthday card and is bound to attract the eye with this surprising message. While many of us are less than happy with the idea of aging (it doesnt seem to offer many benefits!) for sufferers, their future years are a priceless gift. If we accept that cancer survival rates have doubled in the past 40 years then it is important to recognise that our role is a major complement to the research work of other organisations. We need to remind ourselves that we can, and do, make a positive difference. In a few minutes, a diagnosis may change a life expectation but our sensitive, invited interventions can prove invaluable whatever the final outcome for that person. So it is the H word we should hang on to For Hope not the C word -

Carol Whiteway warms up some of her Fitness Group participants

Well done to everyone involved and all those who sponsored you - I must say I thoroughly enjoyed Only 163 shopping days til Christmas! the morning; so much enthusiasm was infectious! I look forward to next year with an even stronger CSF Well, thats not true really, but we are beginning presence participating! to plan our popular Christmas Fayre in Monteton on November 19th and as a final note, please start saving Tony Benstead for those special gifts and mentioning to any suitable trader that stalls are available. We are preparing an Wonderful news and obviously an inspiration exciting Raffle and our super Greetings cards will be so the rest of us had better start training now! there as well as at Angel Trader venues.

Looking forward as far as possible and as positively as possible to the future!

Training
We have supported Dordogne East and Lot by running a training session in their area which was very well received, both as a refresher course for established Active Listeners and new practitioners. The revised materials used by Sue Murphy and Tony Benstead were once again much appreciated and our link with the Lot will continue with a further planned for September. Tony and Sue would like to thank all involved for their active participation and particular thanks to Elizabeth and Konrad for their outstanding hospitality.
Volume 7 Issue 4

Frances Nunn

CSF Gascony
We had an unsteady start to the year with the committee resigning in March for purely local reasons that will not be entered into publicly. An EGM was called for on April 11th, which took place in Mont de Marrast, our operational centre, to elect a new committee, which we did. John Docherty (me) was elected as President, Jayne Ray as Vice President and Bobbie Coe (previous secretary) in
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Gascony (Cont..)
her continuing role as Secretary. Previously elected members were appointed by the new President, with the agreement of the membership, to continue to serve in various roles: - Jude Newton responsible for Special Projects, Gill Miles continuing as Active Listeners and Client co-ordinator and Trainer, Carol Harmer continuing as Resources Officer and Minutes Secretary. donated items and all monies raised going to CSF Gascony.

We have received a number of membership applications as a result of two introductory meetings chaired by Jude Newton and we expect to be arranging an Active Listener course in the autumn. We have high hopes for the success of this satellite as they are a very motivated and active group of people, as indeed they Having settled all issues the new and re- are in the Toulouse satellite. Clearly, we are hoping to organised committee committed themselves to a reach a greater number of potential clients. positive year of growth in both membership and awareness of our services across a broader geographiAs you may have gathered, we are fairly cal area. We have succeeded in this aim, not least due pleased with our success in spreading the word and we to the previous efforts of the then President, Jude hope to reach out even further with the production of Newton, and in her new role as Special Projects co- our new publicity material. ordinator. The Toulouse satellite, as reported previously, is up and running with all members having taken an AL course in April and they are keen to provide support as soon as possible. This satellite group have also been very active, via Jayne Ray, in fund raising and publicity via the Toulouse Womens International Group (TWIG), by arranging for CSF Gascony to be adopted as one of only three nominated charities. True to TWIGs commitment, we are being featured at their Summer Garden Party by way of providing the Raffle, and prizes. The first prize being a 3-5 day break in a log cabin in the U.K. (transferable) and donated very generously by our Treasurer and Secretary, Bobbie Coe, at her holiday park with all proceeds to go to CSF Gascony along with any donations made on the day. The central group at Mont de Marrast is not being left behind as they held a coffee morning Thursday 9th June and plan to have a Spring Walk on 25th June for all-comers, both organised by Paula Whitehouse, which we expect to generate interest anew, perhaps with some new members resulting. Another Well Being Day is scheduled to take place 18th July, is once again being organised by Lynn Kilbey at her home. You might remember this is an event to support and pamper any clients who wish to attend, at no cost to themselves.

One further item worth reporting is that John Docherty has been broadcasting, in his capacity as President of CSF Gascony, as a member of a live English-speaking local radio programme on Radio We are also nominated to receive ALL Festival Lannemezan, for the last couple of months and sponsorship monies being raised from a 240 mile hopes to continue. Broadcasts take place on the first sponsored bike ride in Blairgowrie in the U.K. being Thursday of each month at 14:00. ridden by Mike Abbott, the husband of a TWIG member. Active listeners continue to grow in numbers following a successful course held in April which Whilst all this activity was being generated, all created 7 newly qualified ALs with one re-qualifying at our publicity material was being revamped, also via his own request. Jayne Ray, and is expected to be printed by the end of June. As mentioned earlier, another Active Listener course is expected to be arranged for our new Satellite This will be in time for the first formal function of another Satellite Group which has been established in Group this coming autumn. Good talking to you. the north west of the Gers near Eauze. That function is to be held 28th July in the form of a musical picnic lunch being held at the home of a new member and organised by her with a blind auction of a number of

John Docherty

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Touchlines

The Treasurers Spot

News Roundup

Once again I am pleased to report that at CSF The following are digests of recent items from (National) income and expenditure are in line with our the BBC News Health Website: budgeted targets. We can therefore continue to devote our efforts to raising awareness of CSF and supporting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health clients and Affiliated Associations, rather than fundraising. The UKs National Council for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has ruled that Everolimus (also Thanks to our Assistant Treasurer, Gary Healey, known as Afinitor) is too expensive for use in the CSF now has a Paypal account operating at National treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma. Two drugs level. This will enable the Association to receive which have been approved (Sunitinib and Pazopanib) donations and payments for promotional items also increase survival, but are not effective in all cases. electronically and will be especially useful where such Everolimus costs over 200,000 for a course of transactions are in sterling. The account is operated at treatment. (19 April 2011). CSF (National); each Affiliated Association will shortly receive an individual reference code so that items Cancer Research UK is sponsoring a trial of a designated for their eventual receipt can be identified pancreatic cancer vaccine called TeloVac, which is not and forwarded. Further details can be obtained from a cure but may prolong life. Pancreatic cancer has the me. lowest survival rate of all cancers just three in every hundred patients survive for five years or more. The Unfortunately, for personal reasons Gary has trial will involve more than 1,000 patients at 53 UK had to resign from the National Committee and will, hospitals who will receive regular doses of the vaccine therefore, not be able to take over the role of together with chemotherapy. The results will be Treasurer next March. Consequently, we are again compared with treatment by chemotherapy alone. The looking for a willing volunteer. All offers (and vaccine contains small sections of the protein enquiries) to the current incumbent, please! telomerase. This is over-produced by cancer cells, residing on the cell surface; it is hoped that the vaccine Finally, I would like to clarify the position of CSF will stimulate the bodys immune system to recognize regarding the use of the funds which it has raised. As the protein and target the cells (14 April 2011). an association caratatif registered under the loi 1901, CSF may raise funds for its own use in accordance with A European study, reported in the British the objectives specified in its Statutes. This precludes Medical Journal, has found that drinking alcohol over the distribution of such funds to other charities or the recommended limit substantially increases the risk organizations, such as to support cancer research or to of some cancers. The investigation involved eight purchase medical equipment for a hospital. Some countries, including the UK and France, and more than confusion arose recently because CSF members were 360,000 people. (8 April 2011). present (to raise awareness of CSF) at an event from which the organiser sent the proceeds to an animal Andy Shepherd welfare charity. Investigation confirms that at no time Situation Vacant was any money from this event given to CSF, nor was any money transferred from a CSF account to the animal charity. Perhaps it is time to reiterate that CSF is Due to unforeseen circumstances, a vacancy has not a fund-raising organization per se if an occurred for the position of National Treasurer to Association has sufficient funds to continue its prime take over from Andy Shepherd as planned in 2012. task of supporting people affected by cancer, it should not feel driven to keep asking for money. For further information, please contact Andy direct: Andy ShepherdTreasurer, CSF (National) Tel: 05 45 29 08 93 csfmoneybags@gmail.com

Volume 7 Issue 4

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Useful Information
Association Office & Sige Social
Mairie Le Bourg 16350 BENEST Open every Tuesday 10h0012h30 and by appointment National Help-line Tl/fax 05 45 89 30 05
An answerphone service operates outside office hours

Dordogne-Riberac (16s, 24w): Valerie Wareham 05 53 90 62 03 vmwareham@papaval.plus.com Dordogne-Sud (24, 33, 47): Tony Benstead 05 53 54 46 67 csf.dordognesud@gmail.com Gascony (31, 32, 65): John Docherty 05 67 32 18 56. csf.gascony@aliceadsl.fr Languedoc (12,30,34,48): Cat Hartley 04 67 96 12 04 csf.languedoc@gmail.com Lyons (69) Paul Keats lyon.csf@gmail.com 04 78 03 71 16

E-mail: cancersupportfrance@orange.fr Website: www.cancersupportfrance.info Internet Forum: http://csf-forum.org

Useful Contacts
President: Linda Shepherd 05 45 29 08 93 presidentcsf@gmail.com Treasurer: Andy Shepherd 05 45 29 08 93 csfmoneybags@gmail.com Secretary: Jane Thomas seccsf16@gmail.com 05 49 48 99 48

Sud-de-France (09, 11, 66): Hazel Turner 04 68 69 41 45 presidentcsf110966@gmail.com Vende (85): David Martin 02 51 00 92 97 csvpresident@orange.fr

Regional Groups
Basse-Normandie (14, 50,61): Jenny Luck 02 33 60 27 82 jennytluck@hotmail.com Bretagne-Ouest (29 w, 22w): Judith Curl 02 96 45 76 20 Curl_judith@yahoo.co.uk Charente-Plus (16, 17, 86,87) Pat Hyatt 05 45 29 66 24 csf.charenteplus@gmail.com Cur-de-France (03,18, 58): Teresa Cox teresaric@gmail.com 04 70 67 94 87

Donations for the national work of CSF should be sent to the Treasurer, Andy Shepherd, at La Roche, le Bourg 16350 BENEST

Touchlines
Published in January, March, May, July, September and November

Copy Date: 10th of preceding month

Items for inclusion should be sent to the Editor: Margaret York Combe Brune, 46220 PRAYSSAC E-mail: csfdordognelot@yahoo.com Please send photographs as separate jpg files

Creuse (23): Mike Walsh 05 55 63 98 76 csf.creuse@yahoo.com Deux-Svres (79): June Searchfield 05 49 64 59 96 searchfields.lagroie@orange.fr Dordogne Est/Lot (24E, 46): Margaret York 05 65 22 96 37 csfdordognelot@yahoo.com
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