It’s World Cancer Day on February 4 and Cancer Research UK is calling on all men, women and children to play their part by wearing a Unity Band or donating.
Money raised will help fund life-saving research and help bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.
The Unity Bands are made of two parts, knotted together, to symbolise strength in unity and the power of what can be achieved when people join forces.
One familiar face backing World Cancer Day is actress Arabella Weir, star of sitcom Two Doors Down.
Arabella is wearing her Unity Band in memory of her mum, dad, best friend and step mum after losing all four to the devastating disease.
Every hour, four people are diagnosed with cancer in Scotland and Arabella knows exactly how heartbreaking it can be caring for a loved one with cancer.
“I’ve lost so many of the people I love to cancer,” says Arabella, 59, and mum to Isabella, 19, and Archie, 17.
“At times it has felt like being stuck on a train track while the trains keep coming up and hitting me. I tried to do everything I could to help in whatever way they needed me.
“Wearing a Unity Band or donating is a simple and easy way to show support, to help fund vital research to develop new treatments so more families have more tomorrows.”
It was a shock when Arabella, who has also starred in The Fast Show, Skins and Doctor Who, was told her dad, Sir Michael Weir only had weeks to live. Sir Michael, a former British Ambassador to Egypt, who had grown up in Dunfermline, had lived with prostate cancer for more than a decade but kept the illness a secret from his children.
“That was my dad all over,” smiles Arabella.
“Seeing him, laughing with him, spending time with him, you’d never have known he was fighting cancer. Dad had been so very active all his life, even skiing in his 70s, so when he did suddenly weaken in the last few weeks of his life, his decline seemed to come out of nowhere.
“I think my dad didn’t want to deal with seeing his children crying. There will have been a bit of wanting to protect us too. I must have told him I loved him about ten times per visit in those last few weeks of his life and I’m glad I did. I was very, very proud of dad. It was a big leap for dad, a lower middle class boy from Dunfermline to become an Ambassador. He did so well.”
Sir Michael, who at school had been Dux of Dunfermline High before winning a scholarship to Edinburgh University, was 81 when he died. It was the first of a series of cancer blows for Arabella. After her dad died on June 22 2006, Arabella’s step mum, Hilary Reid who had been married to Arabella’s dad for 30 years was also diagnosed with cancer and died from myeloma in 2008 aged 63. Months later in May 2009, Arabella’s mum Alison Walker who was born in Easter Ross and grew up in Melrose died from breast cancer aged 83.
Arabella, who is mum to Isabella, 19, and Archie, 17, said: “One of the things I’m grateful for is that I don’t get squeamish about the practical side to caring for someone who is unwell.
“I’m good at just rolling my sleeves up and getting on with it. When you’re dying it doesn’t help to have someone sitting there saying, ‘I can’t cope with this’. That only makes things worse. My mum was very good about it. She said that everyone has to die and she came to accept it.”
But it felt almost unbearable for Arabella when her best friend, a mum of three Helen Scott-Lidgett died from ovarian cancer on July 31 2012. Helen, who was a public relations executive in London, teacher and special advisor to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was just 63.
Arabella said: “I’ve got a few best friends but Helen was my absolute soul mate.
“She was my best, best, best friend. She rang me and said, ‘it’s bad news. I have cancer.’ It was a July morning and I went round to her house. We opened up a bottle of champagne. Doctors said she had about a year and a half but she in fact had four years almost to the day which was pretty incredible. People talk about fighting cancer. Helen overdid it a bit. She just wasn’t accepting that she was going to die. I went with Helen to her chemotherapy sessions. Helen and I had a real laugh, even about her oncologist. Helen said, “Wait until you meet him. He looks like the playwright Tom Stoppard. When I met him I said, ‘I’m sorry he doesn’t look like Tom Stoppard at all, more like Barry Manilow.’ A cancer diagnosis is no laughing matter but Helen and I managed to find humour even in her darkest moments, laughing almost to the end and sharing our closeness during her treatment for which I’ll always be eternally grateful.
“I helped to nurse her and I last saw her about an hour before she died. You don’t know you’re going to rise to these challenges in life until they happen. I loved her very much so I wanted to do everything I could to help her. There’s not a day when I don’t miss Helen. She was the person with whom I felt most at ease. Every single day something will happen that I think, ‘I must tell Helen about this. We were so close that I honestly feel part of me went with her.”
Cancer Research UK is working with nine other charities to encourage people to wear a Unity Band and help raise vital funds. By joining together, the charities hope to raise awareness and make an impact in transforming the lives of millions who are affected by cancer.
Lisa Adams, Cancer Research UK spokeswoman in Scotland, says: “World Cancer Day provides an opportunity for people in Scotland as well as across the world, to show that together we can be a powerful force to beat cancer sooner.
“Whatever the motivation- to remember a loved one, celebrate people who have overcome the disease, or to rally in support of those going through treatment-World Cancer Day is a chance to get involved and help more people survive this disease. Survival has doubled since the 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress- but every step our doctors, nurses and scientists take relies on donations from the public and the tireless fundraising of our supporters.”
The bands come in three different colours and are available in Cancer Research UK shops for a suggested donation of £2 as well as online at www.cruk.org.uk/worldcancerday
Arabella is highlighting Cancer Research UK’s Unity Bands for World Cancer Day which is Saturday February 4. The bands which come in three different colours are available from all 84 Cancer Research UK shops in Scotland. Unity bands are also available online at www.cruk.org.uk/worldcancerday
clindsay@thecourier.co.uk
About Cancer Research UK
- Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research.
- Cancer Research UK’s pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives.
- Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on vital donations from the public.
- Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last forty years.
- Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK’s ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years.
- Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.
- Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.
For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
About World Cancer Day 2017
- World Cancer Day 2017 takes place on Saturday 4 February 2017.
- Around every two minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer.
- There are 200 cancer types and 65 million of us.
- Cancer Research UK is calling on the nation to wear a Unity Band and play a part in one incredible ‘Act of Unity’ to beat cancer sooner.
- CRUK is working with nine other charities to unity the public in a simple but powerful life changing act – wearing a Unity Band. By joining forces, we will make a bigger impact in transforming the lives of millions who are affected by cancer.
- Charities include CLIC Sargent, Movember Foundation, Anthony Nolan, Breast Cancer Care, Breast Cancer now, Bowel Cancer UK, Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, Marie Curie and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
- Unity Bands are available in all Cancer Research UK stores and online at cruk.org/worldcancerday for a suggested donation of £2.
- For the first time this year, a range of Unity Bands have been designed for children and can be found in M&Co stores across the UK for a suggested donation of £1.
- Social media hashtag: #ActOfUnity.
For further information about World Cancer Day, please visit www.cruk.org/worldcancerday