Changing times - 40 years on - podcast

Professor David Linch, Emeritius Professor at University College London talks to Lymphoma Action’s Anne Hook. As Lymphoma Action celebrates its 40th anniversary year they discuss how things have changed clinically, with Professor Linch commenting how lymphoma was seen as a mysterious disease with little information available for patients to learn more about it. The Charity started with two patients who found comfort in talking to each other about their Hodgkin’s disease. This expanded to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and a patient, Tim Hilder, who introduced the helpline and registered the charity 40 years ago as the Hodgkin’s Disease Association. This small group, with the support of eminent clinician Dr Tony Jeliffe and Dr Gillian Vaugan Hudson were able to provide trustworthy information and support, which is still very much at the heart of the Charity today. In the podcast, Professor Linch talks about how treatment has changed over this time, believing that a key change was in the late 60s/early 70s when combination chemotherapy was introduced. Another major step was the improvement of supportive care, meaning that more people were able to tolerate cancer treatment. Professor Linch felt that Lymphoma Action has been key in providing information and support for people affected by lymphoma over the last 40 years and that the Charity’s introduction of the Lymphoma Clinical Nurse Specialist programme has been one of the most important developments for people affected by lymphoma.