Thank you so much, once again, for your continued messages of support. I am continually humbled by the altruistic actions of so many. Your encouragement and positivity, coupled with the knowledge that Jess would be cheering us on, give us the strength and determination to continue campaigning.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, was generous with his time during our meeting on Thursday. It would have been easy to delegate the meeting to other officials and ministers. His presence demonstrated huge respect for Jess and was indicative of his commitment to prioritising early cancer diagnosis. Mr Barclay spent over an hour discussing Jessica’s case with us again. He described our meeting in July as ‘compelling’ and stated it was important to him to follow up on our conversation. The Head of Cancer Policy and the Director of Primary Care also met with us. They showed compassion and care and shared future actions for improving earlier cancer diagnosis. Jessica’s case will be used to inform better practice in the future, and we are pleased we will have the opportunity to work with them again.

The meeting was detailed and informative. There is much to unpick.

For now, I would like to share with you an extract from a letter I have sent to Mr Barclay. You will see it centres upon the proposal of Jess’s Law. Mr Barclay expressed some reservations about such a law, and I wanted to address this.

“I feel it is important to explain the importance of the legacy we are trying to create for Jessica. Following her devastating and premature death, in December 2020, we have worked tirelessly to raise awareness and campaign to improve cancer diagnosis, with a special focus on 25 – 49-year-olds. Jess would, without question, have made a mark upon this world. Whether this would have been in her field of satellite engineering or as a person of integrity and kindness, we will never know. As her parents, it is beholden upon us to carry her name forward. We do this with pride and love. For this reason, I need to impress upon you the importance of Jess’s Law.

In explaining the lack of necessity of making a law for something that is patently obvious, you used the analogy of safely landing an aircraft. Of course, you are absolutely right, if the correct systems are in place such regulation is irrelevant and unnecessary. However, most laws are simply legislation formalising points which are simple common-sense values and actions. Although, all cars are fitted with seat belts and awareness campaigns demonstrate they save lives, the need to wear one is enshrined in law. For forty years we no longer assume people will demonstrate prudence and travel safely in cars. I cannot imagine a time when we will ever dispense with this law. Jess’s Law may appear to be stating the obvious, but our campaign demonstrates this is sadly not the case. Countless accounts, shared with us, show clearly that GPs are not proactive in referring patients, who present with the same symptom or condition. Most commonly, the Drs responsible for primary care make an unsubstantiated diagnosis to reassure patients. The result is an eventual diagnosis of stage 3 or 4 cancer. If the mantra for training Doctors ‘3 strikes and they’re in’ has been lost in recent years, the response to our campaign indisputably shows medical practitioners would like it reinstated. Additionally, close to 300,000 people, following our petition, support the law and fervently await its enaction.

Your parting comment yesterday referenced your desire, and the desire of the staff working within the Department of Health and Social Care, to diagnose cancer earlier. We share the same aspiration. We all care. Jess’s Law is a clear signal of this care to the public and medical professionals. It is saying we want to get this right. If we need to bring in the calvary, we will. You have our support. We will put the systems in place, and you can rely upon us. We will diagnose cancer earlier and save lives.

At the moment, Jess’s Law calls for a case to be elevated for review after a patient contacts their GP surgery about a condition/symptom for the third time. The law suggests that the third point of contact is a minimal requirement for referral and states it should not be a tokenistic exercise but involve thorough investigative procedures. We realise this constitutes the bare bones of the law; systems would need to be put in place to support and action it.

Thank you again for your time. I cannot overstate how important this is to us. Jess, alongside her brother, was our world. It takes enormous strength to carry on, to question, to query and, effectively, stick our heads above the parapet.”

So many of you took the time to write to your MPs, using the template provided in a recent update. Thank you so much. You are making a difference. Please, if you have not already done so, make your MP aware of our calls for Jess’s Law and ask for their support. So many people tell us it would have made a difference in the diagnosis of their loved ones and may well have saved their lives.  We believe it may have saved Jessica’s life or, at the very least, given her a chance at treatment and prolonged it.