What is cancer? 

Cancer changes the cells in your body and makes them stop working properly and go wrong.

Any cell in your body can get cancer.

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When these cells go wrong, they can make more and more cells go wrong.

When a group of broken cells grows into a big lump we call this a tumour.

Benign means it is not cancer and probably won’t hurt you.

Some tumours are malignant.

Malignant means that it is cancer and will grow.

Even your blood is made up of cells. Blood cells can also go wrong and get cancer.

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Is cancer infectious?

You cannot catch cancer and you cannot give it to anyone else.

Cancer happens inside our own bodies.

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Cancer can make you very sick.

Cancer can cause symptoms that are not very nice.

Symptoms means the signs of illness in your body e.g. pain, headache.

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Some people will have symptoms before they get diagnosed with cancer.

If you have symptoms that could be cancer, you will be invited to have tests to check for cancer.

You might get an urgent referral to Kingston Hospital.

Urgent referral means you need to be seen very quickly – within about 7 days.

Some people will not have any symptoms.

Screening tests are done to check for cancer when there are no symptoms.

A screening test is just a check, like an Annual Health Check, it does not mean you have cancer.

If a screening test finds cancer before you show symptoms it can be treated sooner.

The sooner we find the cancer in your body, the better the treatment will work.

Urgent referral

If you receive an urgent referral to Kingston Hospital:

You will be seen in less than 7 days

If you are invited to have a test or screen, you will come to the Sir William Rous building.

You will wait in the waiting room.

You will get taken to have your test on a different floor. There are lifts or stairs.

There are different tests and scans.

Easy read information

In the waiting area, you can visit the Macmillan Centre to get Easy Read information on tests and about cancer.

After your test, you will go back to the waiting room to wait for your results.

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This will take about 3 or 4 hours in total.

If you need:

  • Reasonable adjustments made before your appointment
  • Help attending the appointment
  • Support for yourself or the person you care for when coming to the hospital

You can contact the learning disability liaison service at Kingston Hospital.