Crawley MP and All-Party Parliamentary Group on Blood Cancer Chair Henry Smith has given his support to a new campaign highlighting the symptoms of leukaemia.

The Spot Leukaemia campaign aims to raise awareness of the most common signs of symptoms of the blood cancer which include fatigue, bleeding or bruising and shortness of breath.

Henry said;

“As Chair of the APPG on Blood Cancer I pay tribute to Leukaemia Care for organising the Spot Leukaemia campaign. This sadly all too prevalent condition needs greater public, professional and government understanding.

“I’m asking Crawley to go spotty this September, to better help those affected and their families in the future.”

Crawley Town FC have made Leukaemia Care their charity of the day for the League Two match against Notts County at the Checkatrade.com Stadium on Saturday 16th September at 3pm.

Henry added;

“I’m pleased that our community will be playing its part to highlight this issue. Crawley Town are to be commended for raising awareness of the symptoms of leukaemia and I encourage fans of both the Reds and the Magpies to donate generously on Saturday.”

Leukaemia Care have stated that the six most common symptoms are;

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Fever and night sweats
• Bruising or bleeding
• Joint or bone pain
• Sleeping problems

The leukaemia patient experience survey was also unveiled at the campaign’s launch earlier this month, and detailed the findings of over 2,000 leukaemia patients.

The findings of the survey will now be used to enhance the services offered by Leukaemia Care, as well as forming the key issues for future leukaemia campaigning.

Approximately 9,500 people are diagnosed with leukaemia each year. Many people believe that leukaemia is a childhood illness, while figures actually reveal that many more adults than children are diagnosed with the blood cancer each year.

Symptoms of leukaemia can be vague and hard to spot, so the campaign aims to drive awareness of clusters of symptoms which may lead someone to go to their GP.

Zack Pemberton-Whiteley, Head of Campaigning & Advocacy for Leukaemia Care, commented;

“It is vitally important to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of Leukaemia. Early diagnosis saves lives.

“In August, we sent out 10,000 packs to GPs to help raise awareness from a clinical perspective and now we are encouraging the general public to raise their own knowledge. We know that if more people know how to Spot Leukaemia then patients will have better outcomes.”

To support the Spot Leukaemia campaign and to order free awareness ribbons, visit: www.leukaemiacare.org.uk/spot-leukaemia

Notes to Editors

Types of leukaemia

There are a number of different types of leukaemia, but the four most common are:

• Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) - rapidly developing, affects myeloid cells (granulocytes)
• Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) - slowly developing, affects myeloid cells (granulocytes)
• Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) - rapidly developing, affects lymphocytes
• Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) - slowly developing, affects lymphocytes