I can’t believe it has taken me to reach the ripe old age of 60+ to experience the wonderful atmosphere of a music festival. The attached photo shows the Dorset County Hospital Clinical Reflexology team enjoying a “breather” at Duckfest 2022. This annual Ducks & Drakes Cancer Trust fundraising event is a well organised and fantastic family friendly event held over 2 days at Hinton Farm Charminster (5/6 Aug).
We arrived and set up our gazebo and began booking people in for taster sessions of reflexology over the two days. From children to young people and adults, those that were reflexology devotees and those that had never experienced reflexology before. So impressed were they all with their experience that an amazing amount of purple -coloured donations were popped into the collection tubs.
For those of you that may not have come across this local charity a little background. Ducks and Drakes Cancer Trust is based in Dorset and was founded by Andrew Drake and his family following the bowel cancer diagnosis of Andrew aged 24. Ducks & Drakes Cancer Trust was registered with the Charity Commission in 2012, No: 1147024. The Trust was founded to:
- Create awareness of bowel cancer in young people, aged 18 to 30 in Dorset and the UK
- To support bowel cancer patients and their families through the provision of specialist equipment and financial aid
- To fund specialist nurses in Dorset County Hospital, specifically in the Colorectal Department and provide financial support for equipment and the new cancer unit at the hospital.
The Ducks and Drakes Cancer Trust donated 5,000 last year (2021) and a further £5,00 in Aug this year 2022 to the Fortuneswell Cancer Trust ringfenced for the Clinical Reflexology Service we provide at Dorset County Hospital. I set up this unique service model in 2014 it now operates with a team of three exceptional therapists five days a week. Cancer patients are referred by clinical staff or can self-refer to us from the Fortuneswell ward, chemotherapy unit and Robert White radiotherapy centre at Dorset County Hospital. The service aim being to help patients cope with anxiety and the side effects of cancer treatments. Over 8,000 patient feedback data identified patient concerns of Anxiety, Pain, Swelling, Nausea, Fatigue, Breathing, Peripheral Neuropathy and Sleeplessness decreased in severity following Clinical Reflexology treatment. These results provide evidence of the therapeutic and beneficial effect of Clinical Reflexology supported by evidence of the safety and efficacy of the treatment we provide.
Will I attend this festival again? Of course……….. I have already committed myself to next years Duckfest. Proving that you are never too old to try something new ! So if any of my readers visit this wonderful event in 2023 please come and see me, experience Clinical Reflexology and put a donation in the pot so this much needed charity may continue it’s worthwhile work.
