World Kidney Cancer Day 2018

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The second World Kidney Cancer Day (WKCD) took place on Thursday 21 June, and helped to improve awareness of the signs and symptoms of kidney cancer, both nationally and internationally. Kidney Cancer Support Network (KCSN) led the promotional activities in the UK and was instrumental in building awareness of the day, with Ambassadors, press releases, fundraising events, a social media campaign, and patient interviews.

The International Kidney Cancer Coalition (IKCC), a global body of over 30 patient organisations focused on improving the lives of people affected by kidney cancer, established World Kidney Cancer Q&A Dayin 2017. KCSN are proud to be a founding member of the IKCC and we support this global event, the aim of which is to raise awareness of kidney cancer. The IKCC ran a World Kidney Cancer Q&A Day quiz on their website and had people completing the quiz from all corners of the globe.

The KCSN media and online campaign included the following patient stories, which were published in print and online, and were accessible to a combined audience of over 140,000:

  • The Chichester Observer ran a health feature on World Kidney Cancer Day 21 June featuring Martin Price, a volunteer member of the KCSN admin team, highlighting the global World Kidney Cancer Day campaign
  • The Lancashire Evening Post ran a full-page health feature on kidney cancer, highlighting Peter Flynn’s experience after giving blood helped to diagnose kidney cancer. Peter is a KCSN Patient Champion.
  • The Harborough Mail ran a front page story featuring Rebecca and James Dixon and the impact kidney cancer has had on their lives. Rebecca and James are both active members of the KCSN.
  • A front-page article on the NHS England intranet (internal website) for all its employees (with a reach of 6,500) on World Kidney Cancer Day linking to the global quiz.

The following interviews with KCSN patient members were broadcast on two radio stations in areas where the combined population is over 1.3 million:

  • Steve, a patient from KCSN, spoke on BBC Radio Stoke highlighting his diagnosis of kidney cancer whilst his wife was pregnant. Steve had never heard of kidney cancer and wanted to draw attention to the global World Kidney Cancer Day
  • Sarah, another patient from KCSN, spoke on BBC Radio Humberside on World Kidney Cancer Day. Sarah is a teacher with an incredible story to tell about how she was diagnosed after falling whilst on a school trip and broke her leg miles from home. Whilst being treated in the hospital she was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

The following groups/Ambassadors all supported our online campaign reachinga combined audience of over 300,000 across various online platforms:

  • @BAUNnursesBritish Association of Urological Nurses (BAUN)
  • @SorayaVivian – Soraya Vivian, singer and songwriter (mostly Instagram)
  • @NewLifeWriter– Malcolm Sinclair– writer
  • @volewriter– Kate Long, best selling author and vole writer
  • @FacingUp2KidneyCancer  – Jon & Sarah Birchall, members of the KCSN and well known fundraisers for kidney cancer research
  • @NIHRCRN_gman – the Clinical Research Network for Greater Manchester
  • @missfitcreates– Debbie Murphy kidney cancer blogger
  • @BenBlack10 – social media influencer
  • @landg_uk – Legal and General
  • @NHSEngland – NHS England.

The KCSN social media campaign was a great success: In June alone we achieved over 57,000 Twitter ‘impressions’, with nearly 14,000 on World Kidney Cancer Day itself. Some KCSN members posted the World Kidney Cancer Day quiz on their own social media accounts to generate awareness amongst their friends. One of our supporters posted a World Kidney Cancer Day video on his social media platforms with a combined following of 1.5 million. He achieved combined impressions/views of 50,000 and 5,900 likes. This demonstrates the reach of some of our KCSN members!

In addition to the social media campaign, KCSN raised awareness of World Kidney Cancer Day through the use of WKCD imagery on the home page of the KCSN website and a dedicated WKCD page with links to the kidney cancer quiz and fundraising pages. During the month of WKCD, 81% of KCSN website users were new to the site, with more than half of the audience residing in the UK.

The KCSN Go Green for Kidney Cancer campaign helped to spread the word with some fun photos of our members/supporters with green lips, nails, and hair, while at the same time generating some much needed funds for the charity. Here are some of the many images that were posted:

Finally, on World Kidney Cancer Day itself, Legal and General had a ‘Wear Green Day’ at their Cardiff Office to raise funds for KCSN and promote the World Kidney Cancer Day quiz. Along with a raffle, they raised a fantastic £1,354, which will be match-funded by Legal and General to bring the total to £1,854 – many thanks to all the staff at the Cardiff office of Legal and General!

Other fundraising events included coffee mornings, ‘Wear green to work’ days, and a green cake sale at a local hospital.

Globally, the 2nd World Kidney Cancer Day was a great success. We are building momentum worldwide! In the first 2 years we have achieved:

  • 650,000 social media impressions
  • Over 20,000 people have completed the World Kidney Cancer Q & A Day Quiz. The UK have done particularly well, coming second to the USA in the league table for number of people who completed the quiz
  • Facebook achieved a reach of over 250,000 people globally. This was a 260% increase on 2017 where 95,000 people engaged
  • Twitter achieved over 46,000 impressions, 1017 engagements and 284 likes.

Through global collaboration, we are raising awareness and providing a platform for action at local and national levels. Read the World Kidney Cancer Day campaign report here.

World Kidney Cancer Day has not only helped to raise awareness of this devastating disease on a global basis, but has also helped to highlight the valuable work of the KCSN supporting patients and families with kidney cancer throughout the UK. It has also helped to raise some much needed funds for the KCSN, and we are especially grateful to the sponsors of this event in the UK for helping to make the day a great success:

      

Read our press releases here:

WKCD Press Release1 2018-06-05

Press Release Soraya WKCD 2018-06-18