Kent cancer surviver has been invited to Buckingham Palace

KentOnline / KMTV

Bryan Baird drives one of fourteen mobile care units operated by cancer support charity Hope for Tomorrow. For the last 12 years he has brought vital treatment to patients doors.

Transcript

00:00After having cancer myself, I applied for a job working on a mobile cancer care unit

00:06which is run by the NHS from Canterbury Hospital but it soon became very apparent that the

00:17unit itself is run by a charity and I got involved virtually straight away with the

00:24charity and I've done numerous everything from opening flower shows to doing

00:30presentations for organisations like Rotary Club, Round Table, Inner Wheel, that sort of

00:38thing, Masonic Lodges, all sorts of things I've done presentations too and which I

00:47ended up, now I'm one of their community champions so but it's all culminated now

00:55with me getting a call a few weeks ago inviting me to go up to Buckingham Palace

01:00next Wednesday to meet Charles and Camilla at a reception for cancer

01:05charities that make a difference to local communities, raise awareness and

01:12support people with cancer which is exactly what we do and Hope for Tomorrow

01:19is just amazing how it keeps going but as it has become apparent they get

01:26absolutely no government funding so there are numerous ways that people can raise

01:31money to support Hope for Tomorrow. I'll ask people to go and have a look on their

01:36website because they can find out what they can do, how they can get involved, the

01:41unit that I drive is actually named Karen after Karen Keating, Gloria

01:45Hunniford's daughter, former Blue Peter presenter and it was named in

01:52memory of her. We have initiatives like the Cup of Cancer which happens

01:59every February, where groups of people get together, talk about cancer, sell

02:07cakes and stuff like that and raise money for it. It's a really amazing thing that

02:11you do for these communities. I think it's really interesting because you can see the

02:15unit that you drive behind you on the screen. I kind of wanted to know a bit

02:19more about these mobile care units because it's something you don't really think

02:21about, right? You normally go to hospital for your treatment but obviously Kent's a

02:25really rural community, like a really rural county and it really helps kind of

02:30bring that treatment and support and diagnosis to the communities as well, right?

02:34The advantage of what we do is the fact that at the moment we go to three

02:42locations around South East Kent. We go to Dover, we go to Folkestone and we go to

02:48Herne Bay and every patient that comes on to us is one less patient that has to go

02:53into the hospital environment so it's taking the strain off the hospital. It makes life so much better

03:02for the patients themselves and the families and not having to go into a main

03:07hospital environment and the continuity of care is just so much better. My actual,

03:14because they're dealing with the same people all the time and a small, I work

03:19with an absolutely amazing team of people and it works really really well which is

03:24why I'm so passionate about it. But I'm very fortunate now the fact I've been

03:31working on this for 12 years after I retired from the fire service. I wanted to

03:37give something back and this is my opportunity to do it. There's a, around the

03:41country there's been an army of people that have done various fundraising events

03:46like my actual team that I work with. Two of them have just done the London

03:50Landmark Marathon with a family member of one of the team as well which was very

03:56successful and I would just like to ask anybody that they can to help it because

04:01the feedback that we've had from our patients over the years is just amazing

04:05and I genuinely feel that it's a worthwhile thing for people to support.

04:11Yeah I mean you treated nearly 3,600 patients last year and which is

04:17extraordinary and not only in of itself that you helped all these people but

04:21that there's such a need for this service and I mean how must that feel to help

04:26all these different people? It's a great feeling which is which is why I do it

04:32because I took it on after I retired then when I did it full-time for 10

04:37years and then when I got to national retirement age I went part-time that was a

04:43couple of years ago and I've jokingly said that I'll review the situation when I'm

04:4770 which isn't that far away but we'll see how it goes but at the moment I feel

04:52like I'm making a difference I thoroughly enjoy what what I do and having this

04:57invitation to Buckingham Palace at the end of it well now has just I don't know it

05:05just makes things sort of worthwhile and it just makes you think that over these

05:09years somebody has noticed something that you've done you know which is a lovely

05:12feeling. Has you been on such an extraordinary journey because you started getting your

05:17treatment for your autistic cancer at Kent and Canterbury Hospital? I did. Now you drive the

05:22unit there and now you go to Buckingham Palace did you ever imagine? No I didn't. All those

05:25years ago? No because I had my treatment from 1986 into 1987 and then I

05:33continued on with my career after that I had a couple of

05:38operations and a very aggressive chemotherapy regime and then I moved on

05:44finished my career in the fire service and I wanted to give something back I

05:47didn't think that at my age now I'd still be doing it still enjoying it and still

05:53doing something that I feel is worthwhile as part of a great team and I think I'm

05:59very privileged to still be here doing it.

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