Cancer was back in the news as the Princess of Wales - Kate Middleton - revealed that she had started chemotherapy treatment.
The fact that both King Charles and Kate have both had cancer is a very acute reminder that one in two of us will have cancer at some point in our lifetime.
The fact that both have been diagnosed after being treated for something else, also shows how important it is for us all to be aware of changes to our health and to see a GP about it - quickly.
With cancer, speed is of the essence. Diagnosing and treating cancer quickly is the key to boosting your chance of survival.
The government has a target for cancer patients to start their treatment from an urgent referral within 62 days: but since 2015, it has missed that target every single year.
The government has also scrapped its cancer-specific NHS England 10-year strategy.
This week, at the Liberal Democrats Spring Conference we agreed a five-year cancer plan to turn things around.
At its heart is a two-month cancer treatment guarantee: a new target for 100 per cent of patients to start treatment for cancer within 62 days from urgent referral, with this right written into law.
Liberal Democrats have also pledged to invest in 200 cutting-edge radiotherapy machines (to replace the ones which are out-of-date) and 3,400 more cancer nurses to support patients and their families.
We’ve also pledged to pass a new Cancer Research Act to coordinate cancer research funding, to save the National Cancer Research Institute from closure, to plug the £1bn gap in cancer research funding over the next decade, and to publish a 10-year cancer plan.
Estimates suggest that by 2040 the number of new cases of cancer will increase by a fifth - the equivalent of half a million new cases being diagnosed each year.
These figures should be a wake-up call, and so should the very real impact of cancer on people’s lives.
Aside from your health, cancer can also affect your ability to work and undertake caring responsibilities.
It can impact your finances and create extra costs, whether it’s putting the heating on more often to stay warm after treatment or petrol and parking costs to get to hospital.
Politicians need to get serious about boosting cancer survival rates, so everyone has a fighting chance.
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