Tyneside air hostess who has beat cancer six times

Jul 19 2009 by Liz Lamb, Sunday Sun

How it spreads

BONE and soft tissue cancers can be found anywhere in the body. There are many different types of sarcoma, three different bone sarcomas (two of which affect children more than adults) and many soft tissue sarcomas.

Joy Dowd, who is from Wide Open, North Tyneside, and has been a nurse since 1966, sees around 50 bone sarcoma patients and around 150-200 soft tissue sarcoma patients a year at the Freeman.

She deals with complex cases and patients face chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or a combination.

Her youngest-ever patient was four and oldest in their 90s.

Joy is present when the consultant diagnoses the patient and afterwards takes patients and family to a room to explain and offer support. Joy will then be with the patient and family all the way through their treatment.

Joy said: “My role is to give time to patients and family. There’s then the comforting that goes with the support I offer and the ability to answer those niggling questions, and try and deal with the worries. Most people have little understanding of cancer until it affects them so it’s about making sure they understand it isn’t necessarily a death sentence, there are options and that treatments have improved greatly.”

Joy has set up a patient helpline and a support group.

She said: “Some of these patients have undergone extremely invasive surgery, require reconstructive surgery or have to have limbs amputated. They need to be supported through this, as do their families.”

Treatment could also involve highly specialised, custom-made implants when sarcomas have been removed from areas like the knee and shoulder. When the patient is a child these implants are designed to grow with the child.

Macmillan area fundraising manager for Newcastle, Janet Richardson, said: “Macmillan is only able to fund professionals like Joy because of the money donated to us.”

Newcastle Macmillan fundraising office is at 0115-214 5444.

For free, confidential advice call Macmillan’s CancerLine on 0808-808 2020 or visit www.macmillan.org.uk