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In Memoriam Bert Culling MBE

All of us at NALC were sorry to hear of the passing of Bert Culling, a past-President of NALC. Bert typified what every charity needs, he was dedicated to improving the care and recovery of laryngectomees and worked tirelessly to achieve this. NALC made tremendous strides under his leadership and I would pick out two […]

Using an Electrolarynx in an Online Meeting

Zoom and Microsoft Teams are the most common platforms for organising an online meeting. Both try to improve the user experience by for example improving the sound quality by ignoring background sounds. Laryngectomees, especially electrolarynx users, are aware of the limitations of voice recognition systems. Using online “assistants” like Alexa or responding over the telephone  […]

AI and Larynx Cancer

Every year around 2400 people are diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. Fortunately, on a small fraction of these patients will need to have their larynx surgically removed with a laryngectomy. Treatment decisions after diagnosis have a crucial effect on progression of the disease. Mr Amar Rajgor is a Registrar at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital and […]

The HPV Vaccination Reduces The Incidence of Cancer

The connection between HPV infection and cervical cancer has been known for many years. In 2008 a vaccination programme for girls was introduced to try to reduce infection and subsequent development of cancer. However HPV causes other types of cancer, not least head and neck cancers, which have seen a large increase in incidence in […]

Bob Wingrove, Oxford Club

NALC was very sorry to learn that Bob Wingrove, Secretary of the Oxford Club, passed away early in January. The club shared this tribute It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of our Secretary, Robert Wingrove, known to all as “Bob”. Bob was so much more to the club than just […]

NALC and Research

NALC has a long history of supporting and getting involved in research studies. When the National Cancer Research Insititute set up a head and neck cancer group. Ethel Culling and John Bramhall were the two consumer members, to be followed by our President, Malcolm Babb, until 2016. They were involved as patient representatives or steering […]

European Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week

The official head and neck cancer week runs from September 18 -23. The Make Sense Campaign, organised by the European Head and Neck Society, started in 2013. Head and neck groups mark the week by raising awareness of the early signs of the range of head and neck cancers. Currently many patients present with advanced […]

A Poet’s Laryngectomy Journey

Warwick Smith had a laryngectomy in December 2022 after a diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer of the larynx. Without the operation his life expectancy was just 6 months. He has chronicled his journey, from diagnosis through treatment to recovery, with a series of 20 poems, each written at the time of an event, capturing his […]

World Head and Neck Cancer Day

There are over 500,000 cases and 200,000 head and neck cancer related deaths globally each year. With greater awareness of the signs and symptoms to look out for some of these cases are preventable. The International Federation of Head and Neck Oncology Societies is working hard to showcase the importance of knowing all about these […]

RCSLT Consultation

The draft Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists guidance for head and neck cancer is now open for consultation. The consultation is open to anyone with experience of head and neck cancer, including those who are not speech and language therapists (SLTs). However, most of the information is aimed at SLTs except for the […]