At our General Assembly on Thursday 5th September we were delighted to welcome Jeanette Missons and Jayne Nuttall Blake, President and Director of Nursing Services/Lead nurse respectively, of Cancer Care Javea.
Members may recall we held a Celebration of Life for Sandra Welham at the end of June at Los Arcos where we raised the incredible sum of 2500 euros which was donated to Cancer Care Javea. Living for today with hope for tomorrow Jeanette explained that the organisation was started over 25 years ago to help those with cancer both in hospital and after they left hospital, and raised funds through it´s first charity shop in Javea. Their vision has been to provide a nursing team, similar to Macmillan nurses, so that anybody who is suffering from cancer, or is close to the patient, can obtain help and support. This is called the Lynwen Cancer Care Nursing care and advisory service. The charity has continued to grow in numbers of clients they support, the number of volunteers and shops it has, and in it´s fundraising efforts, and now covers the whole of the Costa Blanca.
They currently support 201 clients, 120 of whom are seen regularly by 3 nurses, 51 of whom live in the Jalon and Orba valleys, so their area of support extends far and wide beyond their base in Javea. We have a dedicated nurse, Alison, who covers the valleys. They work closely with Jalon Valley Help by the sharing of equipment and Alison also holds a drop in session every Thursday at Animo, Alcalali from 11.30-1.30pm for anyone whose life is affected by cancer. No appointment is necessary.
They also work closely with MABS, another local cancer charity, who do not have their own nursing team, but who have a budget for care and can pay for nursing care in certain cases. They can provide a list of recommended carers and offer bereavement counselling. Jayne joins Bob James on Valley FM once a month on a Sunday 11-12am to talk about cancer related topics. Jayne then explained that the charity funds its own research programme/laboratory at Denia hospital into genetic sequencing so that biopsy results can be screened genetically to provide the best treatment for individuals. This is an amazing programme and members were impressed to know it is happening so close to home. An informative and impressive talk by two passionate and caring individuals and we are fortunate to have this amazing support team close at hand should any of us need it.