My First Travel Advice Panel : Travelling with Cancer
I was invited to be a panel member on a live chat about travelling with or post cancer organised by Cancer Central.
Travel is my passion and I can talk for hours on it and due to travelling pre, during, post and during again with cancer I have gained quite a bit of knowledge through the last few years of travelling.
I understand that people with cancer or after treatment has finished and are still suffering the side effects of cancer can get nervous about travelling and may have lots of questions.
The whole aim of my blog is to encourage people with cancer or any other chronic illness that travel still may be possible which is why I share my stories.
My travelling doesn’t always go according to plan and I have got sick not cancer related during travelling and it has been a learning curve. I don’t claim to know everything about travelling with cancer but I know what it is like from my perspective so was glad to be part of the panel.
The live event had been organised by cancer central which I admit I had not heard of before this discussion, but it seems like a cool organisation and I can not wait to be involved with it more.
What is Cancer Central
Cancer Central is a digital platform which aims to be a central resource for information for people affected by cancer. The website answers questions people may have and points them in the right direction for finding services that can help people during and after cancer.
It is a national as well as local services which I think is going to make this website an excellent go to resource for cancer patients and their families.
Find Out More About Cancer Central
The panel consisted of 5 other members
It was open to audience members no one came on this occasion but there was a good response online which is the important thing as at the end of the day this is a live streaming event so you can view it from the comfort of your home which again is important if you are not feeling well from cancer treatment you can still get your questions answered.
Host: Avril Chester CEO and Founder of Cancer Central
Co Host: Michael Long has worked in the travel industry for many years
Matthew Wiltshire, family man living with stage 4 bowel cancer and has a blog bowelbloke.com
Letitia Smith from All Clear Travel Insurance
Chris Lewis who runs Chris Cancer Community and Yoursimpal which is the only charity that offers free phones and sim cards to people with cancer
The panel gathered in London and was supported by an amazing team of technical people who made the live stream possible and .
How I felt talking about travelling with cancer
I was nervous, I hate public speaking and did think a couple of times why am I doing this but my challenge this year is to push myself from my comfort zone, I know I can speak about travel and I really want to highlight travelling with cancer and if I have to learn to speak in pubic then that’s what I need to do.
But after a few minutes I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I think it is because I am so passionate about travelling with cancer and I think I know the subject well. Having three camera pointed at me was nerve racking at first but then it was like they were not there.
I think what made this live effect successful was the panel members we sort of gelled we all had our own knowledge and experience which ensured we could answer most of the questions and I really enjoyed it.
I hope my answers made sense they did in my head and the feedback we have received already from the event is positive.
What sort of questions were asked?
If you want to see the exact questions the live event is now on YouTube.
The questions were coming through on several topics. The main questions seemed to be centred around travel insurance, is it vital where to find companies and what to get covered.
Next was about travelling on chemo, unfortunately none of the group had travelled abroad during chemo. My chemo was too harsh, and it made me quite ill and due to risk of infection or generally not having the energy I decided to travel in the UK only. If in the future I go on different forms of chemo and I don’t feel as unwell I may still, consider travelling abroad if I have the go ahead from my medical team.
There were questions about medication, how to deal with loosing medication, how to get it through airport security and transportation. I raised the point of checking which country you are travelling to as some countries ban certain drugs being brought in which I didn’t realise until I had to take them myself.
A good resource is the Foreign and Commonwealth office as they have lots of good travel advice for UK citizens, if you live outside of the UK try your countries government website for travel advice.
I really enjoyed this event and I can not wait to be involved more with cancer central and I am also going to look into doing more public speaking so if you want a travel expert or someone to talk about travelling with cancer or living with advanced cancer then please get in touch.
