Hope Against Cancer is doubling the size of their Clinical Trials Facility at Leicester’s Royal Infirmary – and are calling upon the people of Leicestershire and Rutland to help them do it.
Funding research is the only way to beat cancer, and Hope is at the forefront of giving people a better quality of life and a vastly higher chance of surviving the disease. The Hope for Life Appeal is well underway and is your chance to be part of a local movement against cancer – if you don’t want to miss out, you need to get involved.
The Hope For Life Appeal is aiming to raise over £1.5 million to totally redevelop and extend the Hope Clinical Trials Facility. Every year, around 5,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in Leicestershire. Thanks to organisations like Hope, of this 5,000, more people than ever are surviving. Hope For Life is the next step in making sure the number of people surviving cancer continues to rise.
Hope Against Cancer would like to thank a number of very generous donors across the Leicestershire and Rutland community, which has already raised an impressive £1 million towards the £1.5 million goal. The Charity reached the million-pound mark recently with help from The Randal Charitable Foundation, following a generous donation of £101,000. The Loughborough-based Foundation has a clear, unwavering vision that is to save lives, help the socially disadvantaged and improve the quality of life for those in need in the UK and around the world.
Opened in 2012, the Hope Clinical Trials Facility is one of the country’s leading centres for cancer trials in the last few years. Professor Anne Thomas, clinical lead for the Hope Clinical Trials Facility at the hospital, and Professor of Oncology at the University of Leicester said: “We’re really grateful to Hope Against Cancer for its continued support of the Facility and our research. It is the success of the centre that has driven demand – and we’ve reached our full 
capacity as a result. Doubling the space at the Facility will mean we can offer many more patients further opportunities to take part in clinical trials, testing potential new drugs and treatments with the aim to extend lives, improve quality of life and, ultimately, improve outcomes for patients living with cancer today and in the future.”
Despite the current challenges we are all facing due to COVID-19, the charity is making great headway with Phase 1, which is happening over at the University of Leicester’s Robert Kilpatrick Clinical Sciences Building, located at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. It is here that much of the life-saving research takes place.
The objective for this space is to increase its capacity and to bring it to an excellent standard and an environment conducive to the researchers and the work which takes place here.
All main construction for phase 1 has now been completed. Phase 2 will happen at the Clinical Trials Facility and the charity and partners are being guided by the government as to when they can commence.
Research has shown that having clinical research in a hospital providing cancer treatment improves the overall standard of care for patients receiving treatment both in and out of clinical trials. This means a new facility could have a wider impact on all patients being treated for cancer across the system.
Hope is calling on people to start fundraising and help them achieve their fundraising target. In the past, local people have organised events, sporting challenges, competitions, bake sales, bike rides and a host of other activities to generate cash for the charity’s life-saving work. It is of course a challenging time but the charity has been truly impressed at the innovative way in which their supporters have continued to fundraise.
Nigel Rose, Hope’s CEO since 2013, is full of confidence that the people of our counties will be able to raise the required funds: “If there’s one area of the UK that can raise the money the Hope For Life Appeal is asking for, it’s the communities in Leicestershire and Rutland. Many people’s lives are affected by cancer, and it’s a testament to them that Hope is what it is today. The Hope For Life Appeal is the next step in our journey.”
The money raised by Hope’s supporters will not only go towards doubling the capacity of the Clinical Trials Facility but to purchasing new equipment and will be transformational for local cancer research in the future.
Historically, local citizens have always risen to the challenge to ensure Hope Against Cancer delivers its vital research. If you’ve been moved by the charity’s ambition and need to get this done for local cancer patients, you can add your fundraising power to the Hope For Life Appeal by visiting Hope’s social media pages here: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or donate through the Hope for Life Appeal website: https://hopeforlife.charity
