|
Kathryn Tighe knows from personal experiences involving family and friends just how important it is to raise cancer awareness.
And, after taking on a full-time role at our Community Trust, she intends to do just that.
Kathryn is the project officer for the ‘Ahead of the Game' initiative, which aims to use the power of football to raise awareness of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of bowel, lung and prostate cancer amongst men aged 55 and over.
Rovers' Community Trust was the only one of its kind in the North West and one of only five in the country to bid successfully for a £20,000 grant from the Football Foundation to launch its own 12-month pilot project, called Alive & Kickin'.
After initially joining on a part-time basis in October, Kathryn was offered a permanent position at Christmas when additional funding was made available from the Lancashire & South Cumbria Cancer Network.
She helped organise a lung cancer awareness event at Ewood Park in November, which included a sponsored walk around the pitch, and is currently working on the main bowel cancer event.
Eight drama productions - called ‘You, Me and Us' - will be held in local community centres from April 12th. The play, produced by the Pyramid Theatre Company, follows the diagnosis, acceptance and treatment of a man with bowel cancer and reinforces how important it is to take part in a home screening programme. A prostate cancer awareness event is due to take place at Ewood Park at the end of April.
Kathryn, who is 22 and from Darwen, said: "My role is to try and target men who are perhaps less likely to go and see their GP and make them more aware of the signs, symptoms and importance of early diagnosis in the three different types of cancer.
"Approaching men over the age of 55 can be very challenging, especially for a young woman, so it's certainly been a learning curve. Cancer can be a difficult subject to talk about, so it's just making them understand that it's for their own good.
"My grandfather suffered from a rare form of leukaemia and a friend's brother, who was a healthy young man in his 20s, was also diagnosed with prostate cancer, so my job certainly means something to me personally.
"I really enjoy working here. We've got a great team of people and it has its added benefits being a big Rovers fan."
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or require further information about the project, please contact Kathryn on 01254 296256 or at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
|
