Town hall to light up green to raise awareness of kidney cancer

6 Feb 2020 03:33
Published by: Daniel Almond

Bolton Town Hall will turn green on Friday evening to mark Kidney Cancer Awareness Week (February 3 to 7).

 

The week culminates with Green Friday and monuments across the globe will be turning green to raise awareness.

 

Kidney cancer is rising globally but many people are unaware of the warning signs of the potentially fatal disease.

 

Signs of kidney cancer include blood in your urine; persistent low back pain and high temperature; pain in the side, between the ribs and hipbone and lump or mass in the area of the kidneys

 

Kidney Cancer UK nurse Susanna Smith asked Bolton Council to get involved by turning the town hall green.

 

Susanna said: “I am so happy that my home town is lighting up the town hall in recognition that we need to do more to raise awareness of kidney cancer.

 

“Many people are diagnosed at a late stage and we want to make people aware of the symptoms so that they can have prompt treatment.” 

 

Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr David Greenhalgh, is fully behind the campaign – knowing all too well the difficulties of living with a serious kidney condition.

 

At the age of 23, Cllr Greenhalgh was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy, a disease that damages the filters inside the kidneys.

 

It eventually resulted in him needing to have dialysis and several transplants.

 

He said: “This is a cause close to my heart and I’m proud that we are showing our support as a town by lighting up the town hall green.

 

“Anything which can help to make more people aware of the warning signs of diseases like kidney cancer is a good thing.”

 

Susanna has also teamed up with the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust to organise a bi-monthly patient support group.

 

The group is open to sufferers and their families. The next meeting will take place on April 20, 2pm to 4pm, at Bridge Coffee, on Bradford Road.

 

For more information about the support group contact Susanna on sms@kcuk.org.uk.

 

Kidney Cancer UK and Kidney Cancer Scotland are also supporting research into a national kidney cancer screening programme.

 

For more details about kidney cancer visit ww.kcuk.org.uk. 

You may be interested in