DAvid Jamieson
Newcastle Cancer Centre Pharmacology Group - Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge
Fundraising for Cancer Research UK
Story
We're, mostly, a group of researchers at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at Newcastle University.
2 year ago some of us did the Three Peaks Challenge, walking up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden in 24 hours. To be honest the toughest part was the long time stuck in the mini bus between mountains. We've just about recovered and are planning to do something similar (the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge) , with more walking and less time getting on each others nerves in a mini bus, at the end of July.
When we heard about the fire at the Manchester institute our first concern was for the safety or our friends and colleagues. Having established that nobody was hurt our thoughts turned to the samples stored there. These samples are a precious gift from people who have, or have had cancer. We were relieved to find out that the action of the Fire Service saved this irreplaceable resource.
We began to think how we would feel if the same thing happened to our institute. As scientists working in cancer research we are incredibly privileged in a number of aspects, not least in being able to do a job we love and because of this we invest not just our time but do so with an emotional commitment. When we found out the extent of the damage, and the impact it was going to have on the people that work there, it spontaneously occurred to us that we wanted to help any way we could, and that we wanted to do so together with our friends and colleagues from Manchester
Yorkshire seemed a good place to meet up in the middle
