Mr. Aidan McCormick:

As I look down the list, I can see Claire Hanna, Mickey Brady, Francie Molloy and Michelle Gildernew so I can identify with these folk. It is a big opportunity for me. I have just come from the Irish Association of Cancer Research conference in Athlone. It was inspiring because many of the new researchers coming along, PhDs etc., are there and the enthusiasm that these young people have for this role is outstanding. I do not know how the funding follows them for the work they are doing but that is where our future lies. It is very inspiring and it needs support.

Professionally I was a science teacher in an 11 to 14 years post-primary school in County Tyrone. Michelle Gildernew and Francie Molloy would understand. It was Holy Trinity College. I spent half my working career there and am very proud. Tyrone actually educated me as opposed to the other way around. They are such lovely people and lovely children and I was very proud to be there.

I then moved to the education authority in Northern Ireland. I was an education advisor mainly in the 14 to 19 years level working with the Government, the Department's curriculum authority etc., school governors and management. I was an assessor for the appointment of principals and vice principals in the controlled sector too. So I was used to working with civil servants. This is very important because people should realise that I had a life before I had cancer.

I am a cancer patient. I was also a professional but my cancer seems to overshadow a lot of that. There are a lot of people like me who find that. I am now a retired 67 year old with type 2 diabetes, on insulin, and a blood-cancer patient. It is non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is no cure for my particular type but it can be managed. That is a key sentence from any consultant to you and something that you have to take on board and deal with.

That was 12 years ago. I had two children and my wife and they had to take that on board and work with it. So now I am a pensioner with an all-Ireland train and bus pass, living with cancer. I am not a cancer survivor, which is a word that is used often, I am living with it, and that is important to me. I am a regular service user of the medical facilities, mainly haematology, oncology, dermatology - all the "ologies" - and I am there. That is very important to me especially at this time when the availability of finance is an issue. That is important.

I am really on my own personal cancer journey but I am certainly not alone. I am a governor of the Southern Regional College and I have met Mickey Brady and he had been very supportive of our college, which has to be recognised. Most politicians are supportive. I am chair of the education committee and obviously I have a passion for it. The new developments which impact on research is the post-18 years higher-level apprenticeships, HLA, which are in the North. We are delivering courses like the universities in areas such as science. Those are the young people who are coming to the science and medical service end, be it from research or at technical level. That is very important to realise. They are looking for jobs North and South.

One example is a woman I met at the conference last night. This young person started off working life as a bus driver, she re-educated and came into the HLA programme. She is now linked with the Southern Regional College where she received her qualification. She is now working with Randox. That opened up a new world to her but she came through a slightly non-traditional route. That is the kind of development that will impact on the research and medical community as time goes on.

My main reason for being here is that I am the chair of the Northern Ireland Cancer Research Consumer Forum. It is a lovely body of about 30 people who assist researchers coming from the likes of the clinical trials network in the North. We help review its applications and put things in to plain English which has to be done at times. We offer our expertise and understanding. The key thing is we have lived experience which is unique and sometimes underestimated. I know I am here today and I listened to everything that has been said but at the end of the day it is my life everyone is talking about. If it visits you, your attitude will change. I do not wish it to visit anyone but that is a big thing and it is very important.

We can do things like advising on methods and so on, but we are an integral part of the work they do. One of our members, Tim Kerr, worked with the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre in Belfast, around the city hospital, in attracting £7.5 million for its future work. Another person, who the northern people will recognise, is Liz Weir. She is famous in the story-telling world. She has recently had two media opportunities, on radio and television, and also two newspaper articles, reflecting on her cancer condition, the health service and the work of the forum.

That brought me to the All-Island Cancer Research Institute, AICRI. Sometimes I feel that I am standing on the shoulders of giants and I am because the work that I have been exposed to working with AICRI and others is absolutely amazing. I am a science teacher so I know where all the bits and bobs go but it is so important. The patient advocate part is very important and we bring a bit of reality to it. I suppose where they work in a world of black and white, we add colour to it. That is one way of describing it.

I am a great believer in the North-South, east-west and international approach. I think that is where the future lies as a non-specialist. Of course, I would like to see all these things funded.

So basically, that is me. I am a cancer patient on a journey, giving back while I can. That is the important bit. It does not answer the question but does it help?