Well dear readers, if you’ve made it to this area of our new Leeds Cancer Awareness website then let me be the first to welcome you, and then apologise if you’re here to find out how to get rich quickly and easily…

…although they do say that wealth is nothing without health so maybe you’ve arrived at the right page after all…

This is the first time that I have written a blog post. In fact I needed to have a little Google of what a ‘blog’ actually consists of before opening up that scariest of things, a blank word document and putting digital ‘pen to paper’.

Those of you that are already familiar with Leeds Cancer Awareness will know that we’re all about bringing a human touch. Talking about cancer can be a tricky subject for some. We deliver our work in a positive, evidence-based way but we will try to do that in an engaging and light hearted manner wherever possible.

I’m hoping that I can get that approach across in these blog posts. We’ll be using this space to keep you informed of relevant cancer news articles and cancer awareness campaigns, as well as our own musings, ideas and suggestions about how we can continually develop and hone our work. So without further ado…

What can I say that hasn’t already been said before now?  We’ve certainly had to change and adapt our way of working.  Although we are still raising cancer awareness, it feels like forever since I was last stood in front of a ‘live’ audience; something that we took for granted. I can’t wait to be able to get back to doing what I enjoy most about my role,  which is getting out and about and in front of the good people of Leeds, raising awareness and sharing our message –  “Early Cancer Detection Saves Lives”.

Its fair to say that the shift from our community based/outreach style of working to being at home has, at times, proved difficult for me…and one thing that’s really helped me get my head around it was a few lines I read online a couple of weeks after entering lockdown which were ‘You’re not working from home… you’re at home during a crisis trying to work’.  This really resonated with me . The changes that we’re currently experiencing along with our own personal and collective anxieties about what the future holds are all in addition to our day to day concerns and I think that its important that we realise and appreciate this.

Here’s a link to some tips for working from home! https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/7-simple-tips-to-tackle-working-from-home/

I know that I’m not alone when I say that getting to grips with the likes of Zoom and Microsoft teams whilst working from home was not without its teething problems!  I won’t go into details here but some of this video content might resonate with more than one or two of you!

If this lockdown has taught us anything then surely its that we have all been together apart…that we all harbour our own concerns and that we’re not that different from one another…I sincerely hope that we can carry this new found sense of connectedness forward as we step back out into the new ‘normal’…and that we use this time to break down barriers rather than create them.

If you’ve made it this far then I salute you as I’m all too aware that a blog is nothing if it goes unread.  I’m pretty sure I’m touching on something deeply philosophical there about falling trees in empty woods, like I say, there’s been a lot of sitting in the kitchen of late so bear with me.

Stay Safe

Darren