Do us a favour? Tell your friends about our new campaign

Gary Lineker and his wife Danielle are involved in our new campaign

As we’ve said before on this blog, detecting and diagnosing cancer early can save lives. And one of the reasons the UK’s cancer stats are still lagging behind the best in Europe is that cancers in this country are often diagnosed at a later stage.

There are many explanations for this, and improving things is ultimately a shared responsibility. We’ve all heard unfortunate stories of people having to wait too long for vital tests to be carried out, or of doctors who miss the signs of cancer.

And these problems are being worked on under the umbrella of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative for England, which we’re proud to be jointly leading.

But there’s another reason why cancers may be diagnosed late – and that’s the fact that, all too often, we don’t go and get checked out by the doctor in the first place, or put off that visit a bit longer than we should. Our new campaign, ‘Do Me a Favour’, aims to change that.

With the help of some well known names, like Gary Lineker and his wife Danielle, you can give a friend or relative a nudge about spotting cancer early.

What’s the campaign about?

The campaign’s based on focus groups we’ve carried out, showing that people often need a little encouragement that it’s worth going to the doctor to get checked out, and that they’re often confused about possible symptoms of cancer. This research has also highlighted that a gentle nudge from a loved one – a son, a daughter, a friend, a partner – can make a big difference in whether a person decides to see a GP about a potential problem.

So, armed with our best thinking caps (and a lot of help from the brilliant people at AnalogueFolk) we came up with the Do Me a Favour campaign.

All you need to do is visit this link:

• http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/spotcancerearly/domeafavour/

…enter the name and details of a loved one, and we’ll then send them a personalised message from Gary and Danielle Lineker, reminding them to get any possible problems checked out.

Do Me a Favour

So please go and have a look at our new campaign, have a play, try it out, and – if you like what you see – do us a favour and tell all your friends about it.

If we all send our nearest and dearest a friendly little nudge, it could make a big difference.

Henry