My Dad was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2004. It was a very difficult time for him and the family. It’s great he is doing so well, thanks to all the Head & Neck people in Oxford and support he got from his family and friends.

I am really impressed by the way my dad has got through this challenge and is now determined to look after himself so well, helping decrease the chances of it coming back.  I feel I can run a marathon for him, for my family and of course for me too.  It will be an individual challenge and an opportunity to raise as much money as possible to help fund research into Head and Neck cancer.

Heads Up is an Appeal under the umbrella of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charitable Funds that has been set up to fund research into head and neck cancers, including those of the mouth, throat and voice box  www.heads-up.org.uk.  

In July 2007, Heads Up was able to appoint their first Research Scientist Stephan Feller who began work at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine close to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The challenge now is to keep funding that research and in time to appoint a team to work under Stephan. To meet that objective Heads Up needs to raise £80,000 over the next twelve months.

My London Marathon place has very kindly been donated by Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charitable Funds and is a one-off -  there is no guarantee of a repeat in future. Please give generously, enough to carry us through a few years.

Many thanks for your generosity, Lucy