Sussex Cancer Fund – Needs Your Help Ever thought of being a brand ambassador? I hadn’t until now….
Updated: Apr 27, 2021
Sussex Cancer Fund – Needs Your Help
Ever thought of being a brand ambassador?
I hadn’t until now….we need to raise £23,000
I’d like to tell you a little about my dear friend Cliff Ketteridge; I met Cliff four years ago, when he joined one of the dancing classes I hosted. Cliff was a genuinely honest and sociable gentleman, the kind of person you meet; that you just know has the biggest of hearts. We immediately hit off a great friendship away from the dance floor and I also got to meet his wonderful wife Dawn, and over the years this couple became part of our friendship group. They both also helped me organise my dance classes every week.
(Cliff in his favourite Benidorm T-Shirt)
Devastatingly in early September of 2019, Cliff was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour, he had been showing symptoms for a month before this diagnoses, which then frighteningly, did rapidly worsen and he began, unfairly, to suffer with mini seizures. Cliff underwent immediate treatment to give him more time; he had a craniotomy to remove as much of the brain tumour as possible, and then this was followed by six weeks of intensive radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Cliff was cared for at the Sussex Cancer Centre, based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, he saw various oncologists and nurses here at the NHS, however, as I, we were surprised to learn that a great amount of the care and equipment was not all directly from the NHS, as we had mistakenly taken for granted, it transpired that a lot of this was supplied through fund raising efforts by the Sussex Cancer Fund. The fund provides not only equipment, but also supports progressive projects in support of cancer care, treatment and research.
(Cliff and his wife Dawn far right)
Cliff fought hard, but sadly the aggression of his illness took him away from us in mid May 2020, just a short time after his diagnosis. It all felt so unfair to lose this amazing man in such dreadful circumstances. He was full of life, kindness and generosity; and I made it my goal to ensure this wonderful man had a legacy, I want to do what I can to ensure his memory lives on, and his very own kindness is shared with others by supporting and advocating the amazing work the Sussex Cancer Fund do.
(One of the last photos of Cliff and Dawn during therapy)
I am fortunate enough to have a marketing agency based in Sussex, and the directive for my business is to promote and support local small businesses in their own objectives. With this experience and dedicated team under my belt, I knew that we could donate time and support to the Sussex Cancer Fund to help them achieve their goals and meet their targets in raising donations and continuing to offer every single person the great care, attention and logistics that are needed during these difficult times for individuals and their families. Businesses are a great networking tool, and ambassadors from such, of worthy causes ensure the success and engagement from others, to help support and grow charity work.
Following Cliff’s passing, I have spent as much time, as Covid allows, with Dawn, Cliff’s wife, during one of these occasions she said to me “I can’t stress enough how important the Centre was to Cliff and myself it really made us feel we weren’t alone and drowning in a very traumatic situation. I would like to think with the help of donations that the Sussex Cancer Fund can offer hope and support to many more people with their treatment and on their journey with Cancer. I personally would also like to thank all of the staff and volunteers at Sussex Cancer Centre that helped Cliff and I through his treatment.”
I got in touch with Joanna Godden MCIM; she is the Marketing & Communications Officer for the Sussex Cancer Fund. I wanted to let her know what her fund had done and provided for my dear friend, and his family, and indeed to offer my companies’ time and support to help spread the word of the great work they do.
Joanna opened up to me and explained the following challenges the charity face:
“The COVID pandemic has had a devastating effect on the Sussex Cancer Fund. Unlike many other charities supporting the NHS, the Sussex Cancer Fund has seen an 80% drop in traditional fundraising income over recent months.
This will undoubtedly affect the amount of projects that we had planned for future months. Projects like our Community-Based Acupuncture Service (CBAS).
This project started in November 2017 and is run by two medical acupuncturists, Dr Carolyn Rubens (President of the British Medical Acupuncture Society and GP) and Anna Joseph (Chemotherapy Sister, SCC).
The service helps patients experiencing side effects from their cancer treatment such as joint pains, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, hot flushes and anxiety.
The service has been very popular and is run from the centre in Brighton. In 2019 CBAS received referrals from consultants in Brighton, Worthing, Haywards Heath, Eastbourne as well as from a number of GPs in these areas. 92% of patients reported an improvement in their side effects following treatment. However, to receive the treatment, patients had to travel to Brighton to receive acupuncture.
Here at Sussex Cancer Fund, we would like to extend our Community-Based Acupuncture Service (CBAS) to provide parity of access across the full county and make the service more accessible to cancer patients. The service is open to all adults with a cancer diagnosis in Sussex, all adult age ranges and across a multitude of different cancers. Our proposal is to increase the service to other satellite clinics in Sussex to reduce travel and make the service more accessible and treat more patients. In addition, we are hoping to start (where appropriate) some group sessions, which will allow even more patients to benefit from acupuncture, help build a support network for patients, as it allows them to meet other patients and also learn some self-treatment techniques. As a result of the COVID situation, we have 100+ patients on the existing waiting list but have had to close referrals for the time being to avoid disappointment. Once restrictions are lifted and we re-open referrals we expect the demand to be very high as there will be a significant backlog of patients.
Our current service costs £10,000 per annum. The increase in satellite clinics which we are proposing will cost a further £10,000 with the group sessions costing £3000. To be able to achieve our proposal we need to raise a minimum of £23,000 this year.”
So their target of £23,000, I have now set as my own to help achieve; and hopefully exceed! What an extremely worthy cause and one which benefits so many individuals within the Sussex area.
But how do we do this?
We do this by spreading the word of the amazing work the Sussex Cancer Fund do, and by brainstorming, organising and arranging various fund raising opportunities through a network of Business Ambassadors for this worthy charity.
We already have a number of dedicated members on the team, we plan to meet quarterly to continue to come up with further ideas to support this amazing cause – and we need more – we want more – Sussex Cancer Fund needs you….
Do you want to be part of this incredible cause?
Do you want to play your own role in helping to achieve their fundraising target?
Do you want to be able to raise funds in honour of your own loved one?
Do you want to feel accomplished and part of something really special?
If so – then join us
If you’d like to understand more of what being a Business Ambassador for Sussex Cancer Fund means, do get in touch with me stuart@phoenixmarketing.uk and we can arrange a ‘virtual’ coffee, where I’d love to talk you through all our exciting plans and ideas to ensure we hit this target!!
I really look forward to hearing from you.
Stuart Humphrey
Managing Director
Phoenix Marketing
Media Agency
Phoenix Media Marketing Ltd