Johnstone Shaw, Fight Bladder Cancer Trustee
Johnstone had a radical cystectomy with a urostomy for muscle invasive bladder cancer in 2019. At the time he was a 64 year old GP.
Six years on he apparently feels better than he ever has done. The stoma certainly doesn’t get in the way of being in the gym every morning, and is even his badge of honour. His wife and 2 children are of course relieved that he survived what he went through and support his very active life travelling and keeping up with his increasing family of grandchildren he never thought that he would live to see.
“Life could have been so different if I hadn’t gone to my GP when I noticed blood in my urine. GPs are really no different and I very quickly had to turn from doctor into a patient which was not easy. I encountered all the hurdles and traumas (physical and emotional) that we all go through.
Melanie from FBC helped me do that when she spoke to me, and I will never forget that. I received a lot of information about bladder cancer and I was able to get advice from fellow bladder cancer patients on
the facebook patients’ forum. I even spoke to my “bladder buddies” when I was in the hospital.
It has been a privilege to have become a trustee on the Board of Fight Bladder Cancer and provided the chance to give something back to the charity for the experience I had in my early days. It is so great to be part of the amazing team overseeing the running of FBC led by our Chair, Andrew Dearden and our amazing new CEO, Ali Stunt.
We have a few exciting ventures on the horizon and strive to enhance the support offered to patients and families as well as an emerging strategy on awareness of bladder cancer with the public and GP practices.
New treatments and amazing research are on the horizon and FBC is working as hard as it can to push this forward at all levels.
As a trustee I feel part of ensuring the legacy of the charity which was founded by Andrew Winterbottom in 2010.“
We are currently looking for new Trustees to join our Board.
You too could become part of the team of trustees if you are or have been a patient with bladder cancer, someone who has lived experience of the disease, have an interest in the disease or simply want to help take our small but mighty charity to the next level .
Interested? Then please contact us
Find out more about the Fight Bladder Cancer Trustee role