Firstly, a huge “thank you” to everyone that bought a badge from the #HopeIsContagious website. I’ve been truly blown away by the response and demand for badges has been high! http://www.hopeiscontagious.co.uk/ With regard to my change.org petition…. I started this to campaign for Abraxane to be available to pancreatic cancer patients in England. There is complete disparity in that such patients in Scotland, Wales and most of the rest of Europe can access Abraxane whereas patients in England cannot. BBC Radio Humberside highlighted this again in news bulletins yesterday and I was very grateful for the opportunity to keep this disparity in the public eye. I know that NICE are currently considering Abraxane availability for England which is great but the result of these considerations are not expected until 2018 (and obviously we do not know if the outcome will be a positive one). In the meantime, the fact remains that patients in England are being denied the same drug offering as patients elsewhere. So I will continue to draw attention to this petition wherever possible whilst at the same time trying to grow the new #HopeIsContagious campaign because whilst it’s hugely important that pancreatic cancer patients are given the full offering of drugs to be able to extend their life for as long as possible, it is also important that there is much more awareness around the symptoms because early diagnosis really is key to survival. So thank you to everyone that bought a badge, shared the website or posted a photo on social media proudly wearing a #HopeIsContagious badge – sadly many of you did so in memory of a loved one lost to this disease but please know that all of your shares are helping to get symptom awareness out there. I’ve been inundated with emails so I apologise if I took a while to respond but I’ve now replied to everyone and I just want to end by saying thank you again for sticking with our campaign – pancreatic cancer has been overlooked for way too long, as demonstrated by my husband’s diagnosis 40 years after his mother’s – but your support is helping to raise the profile of this disease. Hopefully, in time we will be able to announce that Abraxane is available to patients in England and until then, we will continue to campaign for this. With grateful thanks and very best wishes Maggie http://www.hopeiscontagious.co.uk/