Latest news with #cancersupport
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
Woman feared dead after wire theft cut her off for weeks
A woman says her family feared she was dead after thieves stole copper pipes, wiping out all methods of communication for 23 Lowe, 88, noticed she had "no BT telephone lines, no WiFi, no email, no WhatsApp, no message facilities" at her property in Viney Hill, Gloucestershire on 28 Lowe, who has cancer, said hospital specialists were trying to contact her to arrange appointments but could not reach her, leaving her "in danger of getting much worse" until she was reconnected on 21 May.A spokesperson for Openreach said: "These attacks cause unacceptable disruption to the lives of local people and put vulnerable people at risk." Ms Lowe said when you're 88 years old and in difficult times with your health, your family think "you must have died because mum always answers the phone"."They were absolutely alarmed," she is currently receiving treatment from a cancer specialist at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and medics were trying to contact her to arrange blood tests. "I was in danger of getting much worse because I couldn't get any of these messages," she said."I had no security alarm system working, no medical alarm system working, no CCTV surveillance on the house. Everything was dead."While Ms Lowe said her WiFi and telephone line are now working, it caused "incredible and continuous stress". A spokesperson for Openreach said: "We're really disappointed that residents in the Forest of Dean have borne the brunt of a cable theft from our network."Complex jointing works were needed to restore the network and this required permission for temporary traffic lights to keep our engineers safe. All customers should now be back in service."Gloucestershire Police said its intelligence teams were unaware of a large increase in copper cable thefts, which are "sporadic".
BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Test Fest in Somerset 'a gathering point for cancer survivors'
A festival described by one organiser as "a gathering point for survivors" of cancer will return this Hoosiers and Woody Cook will headline Test Fest, which will take place at Taunton Rugby Football Club on Saturday 21 June to raise awareness of testicular event began in 2017 when Sue Brand, founder of charity It's in the Bag Cancer Support, said the charity found younger men preferred live music to charity Brand said: "What we want is for people to come to the festival and really enjoy themselves, learn a bit about testicular cancer, the charity and the work we do, and how we support people from Hereford right down to Truro." Ms Brand said a second stage is being introduced at Test Fest, where ticket holders often don bright orange underpants over their clothes."We turn away probably between 100 and 150 artists every year, so we've got a smaller stage this year for some acoustic bands but also some fantastic bands and artists that are up and coming," she artists billed to perform at the event include Break Beat Bandits, The Jamestown Brothers, and Whisky Brand said the festival was a place for people to meet and have a chat with others who have also lived with testicular cancer. "That's what the whole festival is about," she said."We started Test Fest because one of the guys who'd had testicular cancer said to me: 'Not everyone likes rugby and football... there's a lot of young guys that love music'."It's actually a really family friendly festival because most men who have testicular cancer are in their 30s.""Come and have a chat with us, listen to the music, have a cider - or two - and have a good time."
Associated Press
11-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Specialized CX Starts With One: Lessons From Aflac's Cancer Care Hotline
Originally published by CMSWire One team. One mission. One customer segment. Aflac's hotline for newly diagnosed cancer patients proves that going deeper is the key to meaningful support. The Gist Customer experience is never one-size-fits-all. That is especially true for customers who require specialized support or solutions tailored to their specific needs. They may have unique challenges or require a deeper level of care compared to your typical customer. A couple years ago, my organization introduced what we now call the Aflac Cancer Care Hotline, a dedicated customer service line for policyholders who contact us with a first-time cancer diagnosis. This service gives policyholders the option to connect with a customer care specialist specifically trained to respond to calls with individuals facing cancer for the first time. Since its inception, our team has responded with care and compassion to nearly 150,000 calls from policyholders navigating the physical, emotional and financial impacts of cancer. Based on our learnings from creating the hotline, here's how to identify customers within your organization who require additional support and how to build out the infrastructure to serve their needs. Start By Prioritizing One Customer Segment As with any business decision, offering specialized support to certain customers must be aligned with your values. Leaders can start by asking themselves, 'What is the experience we've committed to providing to our customers, and how can we build on it and do it better?' After completing this exercise, you may identify more than one type of customer that needs extra support, and prioritization may be necessary. Rather than try to address all these customers at once, pick one segment to focus on first, and then apply your learnings to others. You want to start where you can create the biggest impact, and it is up to each organization to define what impact means to them. Providing this additional support may not affect the speed at which you're able to serve customers or the number of calls you're able to field within a given time frame, so the impact may be measured instead by the long-term emotional effects of meeting these customers' particular needs. At my organization, the decision to focus specifically on policyholders who have been diagnosed with cancer was an easy one. Cancer insurance is one of the first products we introduced, two years after our company's founding. Our culture centers around being there for our customers during their times of need, and few events are as disruptive as a cancer diagnosis from a physical, emotional and financial standpoint. Gather Insights From Frontline Employees Employees who are on the front lines and who speak with customers daily are the ones who are the most aware of customers' challenges and ways to reduce friction. Once you have made a decision to focus on a specific customer segment , frontline employees are an important resource to brainstorm and pressure-test ideas. They can also help identify those customers who need additional support. The Aflac Cancer Care Hotline was born out of a brainstorming session with our call center specialists, who identified a key insight. A cancer diagnosis is challenging in many ways, but understanding and using your insurance benefits should not be one of those challenges. These employees, who have more direct interactions with current and prospective customers than anyone else, recognized that our policyholders with cancer require specialized support. Concentrate on Your Strongest Areas By now, you have identified a specific type of customer to focus on, and you have identified their pain points with the help of the employees who work with them directly. But here's the thing. Your organization probably cannot solve everything. Instead, look at where you are uniquely qualified to help, and lean into that. Sadly, my organization cannot change a policyholder's cancer diagnosis. We can't even influence the outcome of their treatment. But what we can do is provide a level of specialized compassion and expertise as we help these policyholders navigate our claims process. What we can do is make sure that every time a policyholder with cancer calls us, they speak with a human being who understands what they are going through and helps them get the most out of their insurance policies. This focus area makes sense because it aligns with our overall value proposition to provide financial assistance to our policyholders so they can focus more on treatment and recovery. Train Employees for Specialized Roles Working with a niche group of customers requires specific skills, knowledge and training. This includes developing a deep understanding of their unique challenges and needs, as well as expertise on how your organization's products or services will benefit them. For this reason, the employees who are best suited to work with these customers are probably ones who have been with your organization for some time. Once these employees have been specifically trained for their new role, it's important to follow up with continuous microlearnings that reinforce key values and help them keep up with customers' changing circumstances and needs. For the Aflac Cancer Care Hotline, we asked for volunteers among our senior customer experience specialists. While this was not a prerequisite, many of these volunteers have been personally affected by cancer in some way and were already deeply empathetic toward our policyholders. Our original plan was to rotate these employees to a different customer experience team every 30 days, since we did not want them to burn out. But when the time came, no one wanted to leave the cancer care team. They knew they were making a difference, and they were proud of the work they were doing. Key Elements of Specialized Customer Support Programs This table outlines strategic components organizations can use to build tailored support experiences for niche customer segments. Share Knowledge Across Departments The people who work closely with these customers become the experts. It's important to listen to them, give them autonomy to do their jobs effectively and share their key learnings with others. Developing a process to share these learnings with your organization's sales, research and development, and marketing teams will help you continuously improve the support and services you provide to all customers. If something works well, build on it. The employees who manage our Cancer Care Hotline hold a weekly meeting to talk about the calls they fielded and any challenges that arose. During one of these meetings, they came up with the idea of sending care packages to some of these policyholders as another way of showing our support. Our entire organization has benefited from their extensive knowledge of our cancer insurance plans and their deep empathy toward our customers. If providing a best-in-class customer experience is one of your core business values, offering specialized support to customers who need it helps you consistently deliver on that promise. By identifying the right customers to focus on, working closely with those who know them best, equipping frontline employees with training and resources, consistently improving processes and building on successes, every organization can build the infrastructure required to effectively serve niche customers. Creating this type of program requires time and investment, but, done correctly, it builds goodwill with customers, differentiates your organization from competitors and serves as a powerful way to demonstrate your values in action to employees. Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Aflac Incorporated
BBC News
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
TT bike sculptures raising 'vital funds' for Manx Cancer charity
An art project featuring a variety of decorated motorcycle sculptures on show at the TT Grandstand is helping to raise "vital funds" for a new cancer support Cancers Support Group's Wheelie Good Cause appeal created 15 "legends" bikes, which spectators have been able to view and take photos with at the 2025 Stokes from the charity said fans had thought the life-size models of racing motorcycles were "amazing, and they don't believe how good they look close up".She said an auction planned for Senior Race Day would instead be taking place at the 2026 TT Races to allow for more money to be raised via the scheme. "We've been named as the official charity until the next event, so we're able to fundraise for another year before they're auctioned off to the highest bidder," Ms Stokes said."It also allows us more time to showcase the full power and story of the 15 stunning sculptures in our legends series, in which each model has been inspired by an iconic TT bike from the past 50 years," she added. The exhibit, which honours TT riders and machines from the past, features sculptures recognising the careers and efforts of the teams that support the Stokes said there was also "a marshal's bike, because they're are legends". She said the bikes recognising 26-time Isle of Man TT winner Joey Dunlop's career had "been very popular". "Everybody's got their own favourite."Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond stopped by, and riders such as John McGuinness also went to see the sculpture that marked his 2007 Honda machine. Construction of the £2m Mannin Cancers Macmillan Support Centre, which is based on Maggie's Centres in the UK, began in February and is set to be completed by August."All of the volunteers are so grateful for all of the support we've received in person at the Grandstand," Ms Stokes funding raised will make a "massive difference", she added."It will all help towards the running cost were going to have with the new centre."The charity has been working with the Isle of Man TT races team and the Department for Enterprise on the project. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
The barely there 'freckle' on 'healthy' 26 year-old's chest that was killer skin cancer
A 26 year-old woman has urged others to beware of the dangers of innocent-looking blemishes, after a 'single dot' on her chest turned out to be deadly melanoma skin cancer. Leah Alexis Adams, originally from Ohio, spent countless hours tanning in the summer and often skipped sunscreen, but thought the disease could 'never touch' her. Yet what she believed to be a freckle turned out to be one of the fastest-spreading cancers, resulting in the removal of large chunks of her chest and armpit. In a recent video posted on her Instagram page, she shared the unsuspecting mole with her 11,000 followers. 'Turns out, melanoma doesn't care how good you think you look—it just shows up and tries to wreck your life,' she said in another clip. 'So yeah…learn from my mistakes, not your biopsy results.' Around 17,500 new melanoma skin cancer cases are diagnosed in the UK every year, with some 2,300 are killed by the disease. In the US, it is estimated that new diagnoses reach over 100,000 a year. It wasn't until Ms Adams' father Gary was diagnosed with early stage melanoma in 2019, that she decided to undergo a random mole check with a dermatologist. The doctor flagged the unsuspecting-looking mole on her chest and removed it for testing. 'The doctors stand close to you, scanning you from head to toe, asking questions about your history of sun exposure, family skin cancer history, etc,' she previously told a cancer support community. 'The questions about tanning beds and sunscreen came, and I told them exactly what they didn't want to hear. 'I didn't wear sunscreen, I used tanning beds often, my dad and my grandfather had skin cancer.' The results of a biopsy revealed the devastating truth—Ms Adams had melanoma that was bordering on stage 1B. Unlike stage 1A, this means the lesion is ulcerated, leaving an open wound. Experts say melanoma at this stage are far more likely to spread to other areas of the body. Weeks later she underwent surgery to remove the growth, as well as healthy tissue beside her breasts and several glands under her armpit, to check for spread. 'I was not fully prepared for the extensive amount of time this surgery would take,' she said. 'My surgery was an all-day process with prep, surgery, and recovery. I was put under full anesthesia with stitches in my chest and glue stitches under my arm. After the surgery, I was in a lot of pain.' Two weeks later she got the good news that doctors hadn't found cancer in her lymph nodes, meaning it hadn't spread to other organs. She now has to undergo skin checks every three to four months and urged others to undergo the vital test at least once a year. While this means any sign of spread will be caught early, it means moles are 'constantly' being cut out of her. 'I'm barely thirty and have scars all over my body,' she said. Reflecting on her diagnosis she said: 'Did I give myself cancer from not protecting my skin and not taking care of my health enough? 'If I didn't do that skin check, that mole could have grown into something life-threatening. I might not be here today.' Ms Adams' tale comes as cases of melanoma skin have been subject to an alarming rise in the UK. Data released last year revealed diagnoses have increased by almost a third in a decade. Older age groups have had the highest rises in sun-linked skin cancer rates, with a 57 per cent increase in those over the age of 80 in the decade to 2019. The main warning sign of melanoma skin cancer is a new mole or a change in an existing mole anywhere on your body. Most common areas are often those exposed to the sun, but in rarer cases it can affect the eyes, soles of the feet, and palms of hands or genitals. The NHS says to look out for moles with an uneven shape or edges, a mix of colours, large in size and that change over time.
