Leeds-based law firm Walker Morris have rounded off a record-breaking year of fundraising for the Bone Cancer Research Trust after they selected us as their Charity of the Year. The team have taken part in marathons and running events and organised bake sales, dress down days, Christmas raffles and much more, as well as holding their very own 'Walker's Walk' from Leeds to Saltaire.
Cathy McIntosh, Library Assistant at Walker Morris said:
This year's money raising for charity has been an outstanding success and it really felt like the firm as a whole got behind the cause. It would be amazing if the money raised helped to fund the next breakthrough in sarcoma understanding and even if not, it will continue to give comfort to families like mine that face the unthinkable."
Hannah Birkett, Research and Information Officer at the Bone Cancer Research Trust, congratulated the team at Walker Morris:
"The funding of research to the value of £16,000 will allow research ideas to become a reality and provides the funding required to gain exciting and promising data which will go on to be used in larger projects with collaborative input. This generous amount may also support current projects to increase their findings and the reliability of data to speed up the translation of research from the laboratory to clinical use."
The Bone Cancer Research Trust regularly takes applications for the awarding of research grants; presenting any amount from £10,000 to £225,000 to the successful candidate or team of researchers. All of our funded research focuses specifically in the field of primary bone cancer and may explore new treatment options, improve the diagnosis of this rare cancer or further investigate the cause of primary bone cancer – all with the ultimate aim of helping to save lives.
In previous years, such an amount has gone on to fund an array of projects, such as our ‘National Sarcoma Awareness Project’. This project allows top-scoring young doctors and medical students the opportunity to carry out work placements in centres specialising in sarcoma treatment. Not only does this project raise awareness of primary bone cancer amongst medical students, it also encourages young doctors to gain experience and specialise in this area in the future.
This amount has also funded a team to study ‘The Perceptions of Patients and Professionals about Participation in Clinical Trials’, also known as the ‘PoPP study’. This study conducted interviews with young people and healthcare professionals in order to highlight factors that may be influencing if teenagers and young adults wish to take part in clinical trials. They found many influences, such as the patient’s environment, the presence of a clinical nurse specialist, using the correct language to communicate with the patient and ensuring the design of the clinical trial is appropriate, that impact if a patient wishes to participate in a clinical trial. This study was a great success and recently won a prestigious ‘Excellence in Cancer Research’ award from The Royal College of Nursing.