our aim?
The bags will cost approximately £15 each to produce and deliver. We have made initial contact with local healthboards with a view to providing Chemo Survivor Kits to all their patients at the start of their chemo journey. The aim is to provide them to the healthboards with NO cost to them.
Whilst we are in the early stages to date we are in discussions with the following organisations to hopefully provide them with the kits :
- Cardiff & Vale Healthboard
- Aneurin Bevan Healthboard
- Velindre NHS Trust
- Teenage Cancer Trust
Whilst the planning is in its early stages we are keen to roll this out to those who need it. We have researched what goes in to the bags at length carrying out online market research receiving feedback worldwide. We have made changes following the advice from those who are currently undergoing chemotherapy or those who have undergone chemotherapy, as these are the people who know what would be useful. Examples of changes made are as follows :
e.g.1
We initially planned to place head scarves in the bags. However, we found many felt this was a big step in their cancer journey and going to choose their scarves was a very personal choice. As a result we decided to leave the scarf out of the bag as it really is a personal choice.
e.g.2
We also planned to include a bag of hard boiled sweets only to be advised that during treatment dental treatment was not advised. We therefore replaced this with a single lolly to protect the teeth!
e.g.3
Many patients advised one of the toughest side effects they had encountered was diarrhea and constipation. They stated Sudocrem had become their best friend. This was a must for our bags!
We would like to thank everyone for their advice and guidance when putting together these bags, without their advice, thoughts and opinions these bags would not be possible. We hope to include both a paper and online anonymous questionnaire which recipients or parents can complete so we can continue to review what our bags contain and change and update. This is particularly important because as treatments improve it is likely side effects will improve or change - it is important to us to ensure our bags suit the needs of our recipients and we will always strive to do our best for those on a difficult journey.
