CRICKET legend Ian Botham is set to pound the streets of Edinburgh to raise £1 million for teenagers with cancer.

The sports personality, whose nickname is Beefy, is renowned for his tireless fundraising and the event will be his 11th walk for charity.

The Beefy Bowls Out Teenage Cancer event is part of a tour which will see him transported by helicopter between 17 cities over nine days.

In each city he will complete a ten-mile trek and his walk in Edinburgh on October 10 will start and end on Princes Street.

Those who help him raise money for Leukaemia Research and the Teenage Cancer Trust will also get the opportunity to meet the star when he arrives in the city.

Botham, who had a Test career spanning 15 years, said today: “I know that, with the people of Edinburgh supporting me, the walk will be a great success. Every penny counts and we can only bowl out teenage cancer if we work together to raise as much money as possible. I’m looking forward to coming to Edinburgh and meeting those who have worked hard in their fundraising.”

The cricketer became involved with cancer charities in 1977 after meeting a group of children in a Taunton hospital who had leukaemia.

When he was told that some had little hope of surviving, he became passionate about helping to improve treatments and his first high-profile walk, in 1985, was from John O’Groats to Land’s End.

Since then, he has raised £8m for good causes and has also held the post of president of Leukaemia Research.

Although his route is yet to be confirmed, this time he will start at Princes Street and walk ten miles via the Edinburgh Cancer Centre at the Western General Hospital on Crewe Road.

Leukaemia Research chief executive Douglas Osborne said: “We are thrilled that our hero Ian Botham is pulling on his walking boots once more to raise the money that’s vital for the very specific needs of teenagers and young adults with cancers.

“More young people die from the blood cancers than any other cancer. At Leukaemia Research we constantly strive to ensure all patients will in the future be routinely cured. Ian’s inspirational efforts give great heart to everyone working to that end.”

For more details on getting involved in fundraising and to have the opportunity to meet Ian Botham OBE in Edinburgh, call Georgina Fitt on 020 7269 9003 or visit www.bothamwalk.com.

Volunteers are also needed to help the charity organise the walk on the day and anyone interested should call Yvonne Dickson on 0131-661 9224.

Source: Scotsman 

Almost one in five children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia does not receive the appropriate chemotherapy regimen due to medication errors, according to a new study.

The study reveals that 10% of chemotherapeutic medications for outpatients were prescribed or administered incorrectly. Although most were of little clinical significance, in some patients the errors may have put the patients at risk either for relapse or for overdose-related complications.

In the US, medical errors cause up to 98,000 hospital deaths per year - more deaths than by motor vehicle accidents and breast cancer combined. Medication errors are attributable to almost 7,000 inpatient deaths. Medication errors in the outpatient setting are thought to be some of the most common medical errors, but they are not well-studied, particularly in children.

These mistakes can occur in prescribing by physicians, during interpretation and processing by pharmacists, and when administered by patients or their caregivers. Most mistakes among outpatients are caught before drugs are given to patients, and because most drugs have wide safety ranges, most errors are benign. Children with cancer, however, receive extremely toxic drugs with narrow safe dose ranges and must be prescribed according to specific, sometimes complex, protocols.

Led by Dr James Taylor of the University of Washington and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, researchers studied the rate and types of medications errors that occur in children receiving outpatient chemotherapy regimen for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The authors reviewed the administration of drugs and the medications prescribed and dispensed to 69 enrolled patients.

One or more errors were identified in 17 of 172 (9.9%) chemotherapeutic medications and impacted 13 of 69 (19%) pediatric patients. Of the 17 errors, 12 were attributed to how the medications were administered to the patient, and five were attributed to prescribing errors - that is, incorrect dosages. There were no dispensing errors by a pharmacy.

Although there was little clinical impact of the errors in nine of the 13 patients, errors in four children were potentially clinically significant. Three patients failed to receive medications at the appropriate time, increasing the risk of relapse. One patient received an overdose of medication and, consequently, was at greater risk for life-threatening infection.

“It is possible that the efficacy of treatment regimens is reduced or toxicity increased because not all children are receiving the chemotherapeutic agents as indicated,” said Dr Taylor. Moreover, the authors recommended, “in designing new [chemotherapy] protocols, a balance needs to be struck between the precision of dosing regimens and simplification so that medication errors are minimized.”