King Charles creates ‘instant bond’ with cancer patients at hospital centre visit in York

King Charles made an instant connection with cancer patients during a visit to a newly developed facility at York Hospital.

The monarch was enthusiastically welcomed by both patients and staff as he toured the site that will soon be opened as the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Cancer Centre.

Among those they met was Lou Rhodes, 49, who is living with stage 4 secondary breast cancer and played a key role in the design and development of the center as a patient representative.

Miss Rhodes, of Hopgrove, York, said: “It was amazing, an absolute honour. A real honour.”

“The King was so lovely, so approachable and friendly, I felt like I connected with him right away.

“He has cancer, I have cancer, and he immediately looked me in the eye, so I guess you have this bond.

“And I think as a patient, he understands that, he gets it.”

Miss Rhodes, who lost her father to cancer, said: “Dad would be so proud of us today.”

He said that after telling the King that his father had died of cancer, he said: “There’s so much about this.”

The King, royal patron of Macmillan Cancer Support, met the people for whom the center was a lifeline during treatment and heard about the services it will offer and their role in shaping the new facility, from its design, layout and furnishings to color schemes and artwork.

Macmillan welcomed healthcare professionals and cancer nurse specialists and explained how the £2.4 million redevelopment will support thousands of people living with cancer in the area each year.

Charles also visited the centre’s specially built garden and planted a Macmillan rose with Macmillan’s personalized cancer care leader Colm Gough, who is part of the team there.

As he left the hospital through the main reception, he was greeted with cheers from patients and staff waiting to see him, and he stopped to speak to some of them.

Earlier in the day, the King was praised for his “innate understanding that we must be in harmony with nature” as he visited a project aimed at encouraging red squirrels by limiting the number of their gray cousins ​​using contraception.

In sweltering temperatures near 30°C, Charles wore a light grey, pinstripe suit, pink shirt and darker pink tie when he met staff at the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s York Biotechnology Campus on Tuesday.

He spoke with scientists and volunteers who described the various stages of the project to develop a method of delivering oral contraceptives to gray squirrels through a feeding program, as part of efforts to slow the species’ population growth rate and help endangered red squirrels thrive.

The king was also shown around the large pens where dozens of squirrels had been raised and kept for the project, but none of them dared to come out of their boxes in the intense heat to greet the royal visitor.

Dr Julie Lane, chief executive of APHA’s National Wildlife Management Centre, told Charles: “What a wonderful day you gave us.

“You’ve been advocating for our red squirrels for decades, which is why we were so keen to show you the work we do here at the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

“Without you, this work would never have happened.”

Dr Lane said: “We are so grateful for your leadership in caring for our native species.

“Also your innate understanding that we must be in harmony with nature to preserve our special species.”

The King was presented with a framed photo of a red squirrel by field ecologist Erin Thomas, who said she took the photo herself at the Yorkshire Arboretum at nearby Castle Howard.

She thanked Ms. Thomas, saying “this is wonderful.”

Speaking later, the woman said: “I’m glad he likes it. It’s just a hobby and I never thought this would happen.”

As King was leaving the facility just outside the city of York, he encountered other staff who told him they worked in the animal quarantine area.

“A lot of parrots,” a worker told him, to which the royal visitor replied: “The things people bring are appalling.”

He said: “I couldn’t believe a poster there; raccoons.”

The King asked if they would have to deal with snakes, and the staff replied that they were currently preparing to that capacity.

Speaking after the visit, Dr Lane said: “He is very interested in our work to provide oral contraception, particularly because of his love of red squirrels.

“There are red squirrels in all the counties, and we’ve shown that with our study that if you combine contraception with standard control methods, it’s much more effective, so you can reduce the levels of gray squirrels much more effectively.”

Dr Lane said the King had seen how contraception using hazelnut butter was developed.

He also saw ongoing work to perfect a trap that would catch a gray squirrel but not other animals, including red squirrels.

Dr Lane said: “I think gray squirrels currently pose our greatest threat to biodiversity in this country because of the damage they cause to trees.

“They pose a major threat to biodiversity.

“So it’s not just about bringing back red squirrels, gray squirrels are affecting all of nature.”