Kate Grafton: Not quantity of life, quality of life

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Kate Grafton shares her journey with breast cancer at the Genomics England Research Summit hosted earlier this year. She talks living with breast cancer and the side effects of cancer treatments and the importance of engaging with the patient community. If you're a researcher wanting to understand how and where to connect with your patients, listen to this episode. 

You can find our transcript here: https://files.genomicsengland.co.uk/documents/Podcast-transcripts/Kate-Grafton.docx 

"We want to work with you to look at how can we make kinder treatments and how can we have longevity. I don't just want quantity of life, I want quality of life."

Kate has been living with secondary breast cancer since 2011 and is a member of ARC as part of her role as a representative of the Participant Panel. She has an active role with several national breast cancer support groups, has successfully campaigned for fair access to cancer interventions and has sat as an expert patient on the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust cancer patient forum.

Kate is a HCPC and CSP registered physiotherapist with a specialist clinical background in ICU and surgical oncology. She is currently a Principal Lecturer in Physiotherapy at Leeds Beckett University and has undertaken and supervised numerous NHS based clinical research projects. Kate hopes to bring to ARC her knowledge and experience as a long term cancer patient and be a voice for others with an incurable cancer diagnosis.