Wolves stars support cancer awareness campaign

PLAYERS from Warrington Wolves are backing a regional awareness campaign from North West Cancer Research, as it is revealed head and neck cancer rates in the region are among some of the worst in the UK.
Jason Clark, Stefan Ratchford, Ryan Atkins and Chris Hill from the club’s first team have joined other famous faces across the North West to launch the charity’s #SpeakOut head and neck cancer awareness campaign.
Cancer experts are urging men across Warrington to be more vigilant when it comes to the early warning signs of head and neck cancers, as rates rise across the region.
In Warrington the number of people being diagnosed with this type of cancer is significantly higher than elsewhere in the UK.
Averages across the Cheshire and Merseyside region show that 16.24 per 100,000 of cases are diagnosed each year, compared to 13.2 per 100,000 across the UK as a whole.1
Professor Terry Jones, Director of the North West Head and Neck Centre, which draws together world class research and medical expertise to provide the best possible results for patients locally, is working with charity North West Cancer Research, to help tackle these rising head and neck cancer rates.
Research conducted by the team has revealed that men are three times more likely to be diagnosed with head and neck cancer.
Professor  Jones said: “The growing number of people in this region being diagnosed with head and neck cancer is likely to be caused by patients – men in particular – ignoring early symptoms and signs of their disease.
“This means that when they present, their tumours are more advanced, making treatment more difficult and reducing the chances of it being a success.
“We are still unsure why men, more than women, are ignoring the early warning signs, but by working with North West Cancer Research, we hope to raise awareness of the symptoms and show the importance of patients visiting their GP as soon as they possibly can.”
Symptoms which are associated with head and neck cancer include – but are not limited to – a persistent sore throat, a feeling of a lump in the throat, mouth ulcers that have not healed after 3-4 weeks, a hoarse voice that persists longer than three weeks, blood in your spit and difficulty swallowing.