Cancer sufferers on poverty line left to count cost

It is the news many of us fear but at some point in our life will more than probably hear.

Being diagnosed with cancer is traumatic enough but to face such a battle when you are already suffering due to poverty is doubly traumatic.

Our report today shows just how poverty is impacting on cancer rates and those who actually suffer from the disease.

For those fighting it, they fear that the loss of employment due to ill health could leave them unable to meet their financial obligations such as keeping a roof over their head.

Such anxiety isn’t what you need while trying to battle against a condition that carries potential fatal consequences.

Nor is it something that should be faced by those living with you, whose time and energy should be used trying to improve your health.

Dr Andrew Fraser’s comments that poverty is also leaving increasing numbers of young people at risk of contracting the disease in the future is also extremely troubling.

He rightly argues that well-meaning advice on healthy living is hardly going to be followed when you are struggling to put a basic meal on the table.

To add to the problem, council cuts are now leaving many facilities well outside the price range of the less well-off.

Indeed, signing your kids up to a sports club or even paying for a keep-fit class are in danger of becoming a preserve of the middle-class.

There is no doubt we need far more radical thinking to stop future generations being struck down by diseases like cancer.

Short-term sound bites simply won’t wash. Like so many issues, we need longer-terms strategies that are supported by politicians no matter who is in power.