Rare and less common cancers account for nearly half of new cancer diagnoses.

They affect people of all ages, genders, ethnicities and locations. However, the nature of these conditions means that people can often face a range of issues, such as recognising symptoms, obtaining a diagnosis, receiving the most suitable treatment or getting appropriate levels of support.

The ‘Do You C Us?’ campaign aims to unite Pfizer, Cancer52 and its member charities, including KCSN, to raise awareness of the challenges facing people living with rare and less common cancers and highlight the need for change to address these.

The campaign was kicked-off with a parliamentary event on 29 June 2021, involving 70 MPs, rare and less common cancer charities, patient support organisations, patients and carers. Although, rare and less common cancers (those not including breast, prostate, lung and bowel) account for 47% of all cancer diagnoses, they cause 55% of cancer deaths. This campaign aims to improve outcomes for people with these cancers, by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms and encouraging people to go to see their GP if they have concerns. Early diagnosis of cancer improves survival.

During the parliamentary meeting there was a very emotive video of people talking about their experiences with rare and less common cancer, including Katy’s story, which can be found on our website here. There was also a presentation by Bob, a patient with a rare neuroendocrine tumour, and a GP on her experience with rare and less common cancer diagnoses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issues facing people with rare and less common cancers, because they can’t get appointments with their GP, they don’t want to bother their GP, or they are afraid to go to hospital for fear of catching COVID-19. The ‘Do You C Us?’ campaign also aims to address these issues to reassure people that it is safe to have GP and hospital appointments and to improve early diagnosis of rare and less common cancers. The campaign also wants to try to improve awareness of the support organisations that are available for people with these cancers.

The campaign will be running on Twitter and Facebook over the coming months. For more information on how to get involved and to watch the video, please visit the ‘Do You C Us?’ website.