Cancer is a disease which now affects most people in one way or another, but new technology is providing hope for thousands of people affected by the disease in Southend.

Southend Leukaemia Unit Group Supporters - or Slugs - realise Southend Hospital's need for cutting-edge equipment and have worked tirelessly to ensure patients get the treatment they need.

Eileen Benwell, chairman of the organisation, said many of the members had been affected by cancer in the past and wanted to get help for others.

Her own fundraising started before she moved to Essex, when she discovered her son, Michael, had Hodgkinson's disease, aged only 20.

She said: "At the time, we were in Romford and I was having to take him up to London for his scans, so I got friends and family together and raised money to get a scanner at Oldchurch Hospital, so we didn't have so far to travel.

"For a couple of years, he was very ill and I would do everything I could to raise money for cancer and people with cancer, and that's what I have done ever since."

Michael beat the disease and is now aged 46.

Slugs was officially formed in 2000 by a group of people who had helped raise enough money for the hospital to build a leukaemia unit.

Ms Benwell said: "A lot of people got involved and some of us wanted to go on raising money, so we formed the group."

Since then, the group has held table top sales, parties, quiz nights and other functions to raise more than £72,000 for the hospital.

This money has been spent on equipment including bladder scanners, which use ultrasound as a non-invasive method to look inside the organ and datascopes, which monitor blood pressure, temperature, pulse and oxygen levels in the blood of cancer patients. The equipment all brandishes a label stating that it has been purchased thanks to Slugs.

Slugs supporter Iris will be sadly missed: Iris Cooney was one of the active fundraisers behind Slugs and has been sorely missed since she died of cancer in September.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and had a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy, which involved a stay in the Elizabeth Loury ward at Southend Hospital.

From there, she became involved in Slugs and dedicated much of her time to organising table top sales and boot sales, so she could help other cancer patients.

Eileen Benwell, chairman of Slugs, said: "We are missing her very much. She was the one who organised all our table top sales."

Iris's husband, Derek, who lives in Mountdale Gardens, Leigh, said it was when she returned to the Elizabeth Loury ward before her death that she saw all the good work Slugs had done, as many pieces of equipment were labelled to say they had been donated by the group.

He said: "She had been signed off as all clear from breast cancer. Then we went to Canada in May and she was suffering from what we thought was back pain. We thought she's slipped a disc, hurt her muscle or her diaphragm.

"By the time we finally got back to see the consultant, they diagnosed secondary cancer.

"It had spread to the liver and the lungs."

She was told it was inoperable, so she returned home at the beginning of September, where she died a few days later, aged 67.

Derek, 68, added: "Southend Hospital in particular does a great job and any support people can give them I think is important."