FOR those of us facing the daily battle of living with cancer, the love and support of family and friends is irreplaceable and we sometimes take this for granted.

The pressure this throws on to the shoulders of our loved ones can be intolerable and is often not fully appreciated.

It is said that when one is living with cancer, the rest of the family are also undergoing the same scary journey on this massive emotional roller coaster.

So it is important to try and offload some of these intense feelings elsewhere, and there is nothing better than being able to share ones hopes and fears with others in a similar position.

In this regard, I count myself fortunate to have a strong local support group, Friends of Renal Oncology Group, (Frog).

This group was set up thanks to the foresight and efforts of our Cancer Nurse Specialist, and our Consultant Oncologist. They realised that this would provide the necessary additional support for patients and family members alike – and it works.

As far as I know, we are the largest kidney cancer support group in the UK.

We meet on the first Monday of each month at the Oxford Maggies Centre, which generously lends us its premises.

Frog has a special place in my life now as it has introduced me to many new and remarkable friends. Our last meeting was particularly notable as it marked our second anniversary, which served to remind us of our significant achievements.

It was also a time to respectfully remember those we have lost, including many who did much to further our fight for more effective drugs. Patient numbers continue to grow, and now stand at around 35.

I recall that when I was first diagnosed in 2007 our treatment options were very much limited to relatively ineffective drugs which had been used for 20 years.

We were told not to worry as four new drugs were under review by Nice (The Government’s NHS advisory panel) which were much more effective, especially Sunitinib.

In the meantime, we lobbied the Oxfordshire NHS Primary Care Trust, but failed to persuade them to change their minds, as they were sticking to their harsh ‘postcode lottery’ decision not to normally fund Sunitinib before the Nice final decision. In Oxfordshire, many of our number were denied this drug and died.

This was an appalling tragedy which still haunts many people. Nice rejected all four of these long awaited drugs, and so it was time for action.

I am proud to say that the campaign group Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients (JKCP) was spawned out of Frog, and together with others, we persuaded Nice to change its mind. It eventually agreed to recommend just one of these drugs, Sunitinib.

JKCP is now a national organisation, which continues to press for better treatments for patients.

We are now planning to set up more Frog groups elsewhere.

Perhaps, one day we will see a Frog network across the UK. We will make it happen!