Dear Team
Subject: magazine cover
You produce a terrific magazine that’s bursting with useful, readable and understandable information. Every issue is worth keeping on the shelf for future reference.
I have to object to this quarter’s cover though. Nudity within the pages, if it’s necessary, might be ok - but thank goodness you weren’t doing an article on genital warts.
Wishing you continued success - brilliant work.
Best wishes
Sandy Edwards via email
Doreen Mudge T I Limited
Dear CANCERactive team
Nine years ago my wife, Doreen was first diagnosed with breast cancer. After surgery and radiotherapy we thought for six years she had beaten this dreadful disease. But three years ago she was told it had returned on one of her lungs.
Unfortunately it was only months before she died that we discovered icon magazine, Chris Woollams and CANCERactive. I am sure that it is very important that anyone suffering from cancer are made aware of the many things they can do to help themselves as well as the medical treatment being offered. icon is excellent in the way it gives an un-bias view on things we can do to help ourselves.
After she died my first thought was to pass on the information to others but I then heard about thermal imaging and how it can detect early breast abnormalities and other body disorders. The problem with so many people is that their diagnosis is often too late. As I wanted to prevent other families going through the stress and pain we have endured, I have invested some monies from my retirement fund, in thermal imaging equipment and training for three ladies and myself. I believe that many things in life are intended and as there are only a few machines in the country and we are the first in the West Country, I hope we will be able to help save the lives of some people. I am sure that Doreen would be delighted that her memory will live on in such a positive way.
Best wishes
George Mudge
Ed: What a fantastic and positive way to remember a loved one. If you would like to know more about thermal imaging please click here.
Hello Mr Woollams
Keep up the good work - I am a staunch supporter of yours! In Feb 2003 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and took the Gerson/Plaskett route back to health after I had surgery. I have blood work done every 3 months or so and they have been stable over the last few years.
It will be five years soon, and I was given only a 30% chance of getting there. More people need to know about these options, and even more importantly, more need to know about the successes. I attribute my success to not having any systemic therapy, despite the urgings and pleadings of the one oncologist I saw. (When 5 years comes up, I will send him a really nice card to remind him.)
I did not know about CANCERactive when I was looking at ways of helping myself, and it was hard work getting all the information together. You offer an excellent short-cut to everything the person with cancer needs to know.
Are you covering the research on DCA? I have an excellent GP who prescribes Iscador and low dose Naltrexone for me. He will also prescribe Phenergan if necessary. I wonder whether he will prescribe DCA? However, that is just another option, and there are so many. Probably more than there are for the average breast cancer sufferer who choose the conventional route.
Sincere regards and very best wishes
Jacqui Gath
Sheffield
UK.
Your magazine is a welcome addition to the literature available at our Cancer Support Centre and is very popular with our visitors. However, despite our increasing numbers, the current issue has been slow to move, and it seems that the cover is probably to blame.
As you might expect, a significant proportion of those who attend are women who are at various stages of treatment and recovery from breast cancer. A number have said that the last thing they want to look at is a perfect breast and so they avoid the magazine. If you had restricted the picture to your centrefold item, it would probably have reached more people and, more importantly, more of those who might benefit directly from it. This has concerned me enough to email you.
I appreciate that your magazine has a wide and varied audience and a striking cover can have a powerful impact. It is possible to put a breast on the cover when so many other potentially cancerous areas would be taboo, but that is little comfort to those upset by it at a time when they need support and help, not such an obvious reminder of their situation.
I hope you find such feedback welcome and constructive.
C Bourn
Administrator
The Mary Wallace Cancer Support Centre
Ed: We pride ourselves on positive upbeat front covers and we apologise if we have offended anyone. We have, however, received many messages from centres where the magazine has been flying out of the door, rolled up under the arms of male patients!