TODAY we launch the six-part series ‘Your Hospital’ which looks at what life is really like on the wards.

During a week inside the Royal Blackburn Hospital, we were given full access to patients and staff.

The first stop was Oncology where we found an upbeat atmosphere despite the devastation that cancer brings.

MUM-of-two Marie Courtney knows her lung cancer is inoperable, but is determined to live life to the full.

The 62-year-old said the news had come as a shock, but her courage had helped her come to terms with the disease – and her own mortality.

She is helped by an army of specialist nurses and doctors, who have some of the most difficult jobs in the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

They look after thousands of people every year, suffering from all kinds of cancers.

Some have a happy ending, and others, inevitably, do not.

It would take a heart of stone not to be affected by the death of a patient they have been treating for years.

But it is the warm-heartedness and optimism of all the staff that strikes any visitor to the oncology units, and which rubs off on to patients living with the illness.

Mrs Courtney, a retired customer services assistant, goes regularly for radiotherapy and chemotherapy to keep her cancer in check.

When the Lancashire Telegraph visited the ward, she was in for observations after feeling unwell.

She said: “The staff here have always been fantastic. There’s no messing about with them. They make sure you have everything you need.

“It’s all about keeping comfortable for me now. I know my cancer is inoperable, but I think how you react to knowing that depends on what kind of person you are.

“It was an awful shock but I just seemed to take it. My children cried a bit but I didn’t break down.

“I just thought ‘Right, I’ll have to get on with it, because I can’t do anything about it’.

"I had always been a smoker, and a heavy smoker, and now I just follow exactly what the doctors say.

“It’s a really positive service and they manage my symptoms to make sure I can live as normal a life as possible.

"There are restrictions on what I can do, and my mobility has suffered, but I don’t do too badly.”

Lung specialist nurse Angela Thompson, who works in the chemotherapy unit, said keeping an upbeat attitude made sure everyone was a person first, and a cancer patient second.

She said: “Cancer is devastating, but in our unit we keep a positive and upbeat attitude about everything, so it’s a lovely place to work.

“I’ve been working here since the unit opened in 2000, and treatments have improved a lot over that time, but unfortunately, the number of new patients is also increasing.

“The side-effects of chemotherapy can be quite horrible, but thankfully we’ve also got treatments to counteract all those things.”

Another of her regular visitors is 91-year-old John Saxby, who was on his sixth chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with prostate cancer 18 months ago.

He had refused an operation, preferring to live out his life in as much comfort as possible.

The retired telephone engineer said: “They found the cancer here and at the moment they’ve got it in remission, but I have to carry on with the treatment and have regular blood tests to make sure.

“The effects are quite widespread, but if you have to be treated for cancer, this is the best place you can be.

"The whole atmosphere is one of hope, and I’m not worried because I know that they are looking after me.

“There’s always someone on the end of the phone if I have any problems at home, and you’re never made to feel like you’re wasting anyone’s time.

“It annoys me when politicians criticise the NHS and give the staff rubbish targets instead of looking at the real work that they are doing.”

The Royal Blackburn Hospital’s pancreatic and liver cancer service is the most advanced in the North West, with patients from all over the region travelling there for treatment.

Other dedicated teams deal with cancers of the bowels, lungs, breasts, head and neck, skin, bladder and cervix, while rarer conditions like penile cancer and children’s cancers are referred to other hospitals.

Alan Hudson, 56, a Windermere boat engineer, travelled from his home in Ulverston to have an operation to remove tumours from his pancreas.

His wife Christine stayed with him for several weeks in an en-suite family room on the ward, while daughter Louise, 23, made regular visits too.

Mr Hudson said: “The unit is brilliant. Anything you want, they get it. Christine being able to stay for all this time has just been fantastic.

“It’s been an awful shock finding out that I had the tumours but all the staff have been great. It’s a really friendly place to be.”