Birthday celebrations help to raise over £1,500 for NETs team

Margaret Cannon has been a patient at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham since 2016, receiving expert care from the Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs) team. She celebrated her 70th birthday in February, and thanks to the generosity of her friends and family, raised £1,530 to support the NETs team.

Margaret presented the cheque to the NET Team at a recent appointment.

The neuroendocrine system refers to cells that release hormones into the blood, and NETs occur when cells in the neuroendocrine system grow abnormally. NETs are a rare form of cancer, with only five in every 100,000 people diagnosed with them each year. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham is an accredited European Neuroendocrine Centre of Excellence, managing over 1,000 patients with NETs.

Margaret lives with her husband Chris in Much Wenlock, the Shropshire town whose doctor inspired the revival of the modern Olympic Games. Back in 2016 Margaret's local hospital diagnosed cancerous NETs and could not operate or offer a treatment plan.

Margaret was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for palliative care. The NET team, alongside the leading surgical team at the QEHB were able to offer a major operation that if successful, would greatly improve the outlook for Margaret and make her cancer more manageable.

In October 2016 Margaret underwent major surgery to remove NET tumours around her body and over half her liver. Since then Margaret has received on-going treatment at the hospital to manage her treatment.

The NET team at the QEHB supported Margaret three months after the operation when on her birthday she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy and radiotherapy at her local hospital. The next year the NET team also co-ordinated support when Margaret had further surgery at the Royal Stoke Hospital.
Speaking of the treatment that she received, Margaret said: “The NETs team are my heroes and have been fantastic throughout my treatment.

Nearly four years ago I was told that I would only be able to receive palliative treatment, but thanks to the expertise of the NETs team I am still active and enjoying life and my condition is being managed well.”

Margaret wanted to give something back to the team who had treated her with such care and kindness and decided to hold a party to celebrate her 70th birthday in February 2020, and asked friends and family, in lieu of gifts, to make a donation in support of the NETs team.

Margaret, pictured at the party with her family.

Thanks to the generosity of her friends and family, Margaret raised an incredible £1,530 which will help the NETs team to continue their world-leading work at the hospital.

Margaret said: "My wonderful family, friends and I cannot thank the team enough, this donation is a way of saying thank you for the incredible care that they have given me over the past four years.”

Stacey Smith, Neuroendocrine Tumour Clinical Nurse Specialist, said: “On behalf of the whole team I would like to thank Margaret, her friends and her family for this wonderful donation. We are all delighted that she was able to celebrate her 70th birthday, and the donations will help us to do more to support our NETs patients here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.”

Find out more about the NETs team, and make a donation, here.