The European School of Oncology (ESO) is seeking nominations for its annual Best Cancer Reporter Award which honours excellence in cancer journalism. The Award – which has a top prize of €10,000 – is presented each year to a professional journalist who has made an outstanding contribution to enhancing public understanding about cancer. The winning journalist will be presented with the 2012 Best Cancer Reporter Award during the prestigious ESO event – The World Oncology Forum – which will take place on October 26-27 in Lugano, Switzerland. In addition, articles from award-winning journalists will be published in ESO’s Cancer World magazine.

ECPC is dedicated to supporting the work of patient organisations at national and international level - so we are delighted to invite you to join us in Rieti (Central Italy) on June 17-18. The Masterclass will be an interactive event, featuring debates and discussions on various issues from screening to rare cancers, and many others in between.

You will have the opportunity to meet with patient advocates, academic and policy representatives from all over Europe. While the event will include a number of presentations, the focus will be on open discussion, and all delegates will be strongly encouraged to participate. In particular, we will be presenting ECPC's involvement in the European Action Against Cancer (EPAAC) and the RareCancerNet project, and inviting you to contribute.

On behalf of the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM), we are pleased to announce that the launch will be taking place on 27^th March in the European Parliament at 18.15. 

We would welcome your attendance.

 At the launch event, speakers will include Paola Testori Coggi, Director General of DG SANCO, Dr. Stavros Malas, Minister of Health from Cyprus, and Patricia Reilly from the Cabinet of DG Research and DG Enterprise.  The launch will convene all of the players – patients and patient-advocates, politicians and commission officials, medical professional organizations- that have a stake in advancing the personalised medicine landscape and improving the regulatory environment.

ECPC strongly welcomes an initiative to bring young cancer patients and survivors together on a global scale - the First World Congress for Young Cancer Patients and Survivors. The Fundacion Jovenes contra el cancer has organised this fantastic event with the support of the UICC (International Union Against Cancer) and other sponsors. It is taking place in Quito, Ecuador on 4-8 May 2012.

The organisers are covering all on-site costs for young delegates (cancer patients or survivors between 17 and 30) - accommodation, food and travel within the country. The only thing missing is the flight. The event will take place in Spanish, with translation offered into English and Chinese. There are also limited bursaries towards the costs of flights available to young delegates from less developed countries. Please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

If you are interested, please go to the website of the organisers to register.

As those who attended ECPC's AGM 2012 will know, we have over the last year been developing a new set of statutes, designed to make ECPC a more democratic and accountable organisation, and also to bring us in line with changes to national and European law.

The statutes were presented to the AGM in Antwerpen in November 2011, but in order to ensure that every organisation has the opportunity to vote on this significant decision, we held a vote by post and by email. 

Paul Catana tells his story here. If you have a story about childhood cancer you'd like to share, please send it to us and we will include it in our website and other publications

My name is Paul, I'm 23 years old and I live in Romania. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in my right hand.

Everything started when I felt pain in my hand and it was 100% impossible to use it. I didn't go to the doctor straight away because I was busy studying, but when the pain persisted I was forced to ask for help. After several tests, the diagnosis was a hard one: OSTEOSARCOMA (bone cancer). At the beginning I didn't know what it was or what I should do. The doctors told me that I would have to have chemotherapy and again I didn't know what it was or what it did...

This workshop, focusing on Patient Registries, will be the platform at the beginning of 2012 to call to all relevant stakeholders with a common aim and commitment to foster the establishment of Rare Disease/Rare Cancers Patient Registries throughout Europe.