In June I'll be taking on the Wales 3000 - 15 peaks in 48 hours - it won't be easy and it won't be a walk in the park, but the grit needed to complete it is exactly what Luke Bell had every step of the way following his diagnosis of Neuroblastoma. The Team Luke Foundation is a registered charity set up by Luke's family as a legacy to Luke, who died in December 2018 aged only 8 years old and 21 months after his original diagnosis.  

This year, the foundation has a goal - to raise funds to support Professor Chesler's team at the Institute for Cancer research in understanding the genetic factors that dictate childhood cancer. Two aspects of the team’s current research hold particular interest for the foundation. The first is their development of blood-based testing. This will make testing less invasive because it will negate the need for the repetition of painful biopsies. This would certainly have met with Luke’s approval . It also means that clinicians can test frequently throughout a child’s treatment & identify further genetic changes occurring. In short, it keeps clinicians one step ahead of any drug resistance developing. The second is their development of real-time testing of children’s biomarkers to enable & inform tailored treatment pathways, e.g. Luke’s MYCN/N-MYC gene amplification would have been identified at the outset & his treatment would have been tailored accordingly, with significantly less harsh chemotherapy & radiotherapy .

The funds from this challenge are crucial - namely a financial commitment to support the funding of a new Senior Staff Scientist on Professor Chesler’s team for a period of two years. Being a PhD student and a Senior Lecturer at Teesside University I understand how vital funding is to push research forward, but also, the struggle with securing jobs in research for graduates and beyond.

Please help and support this fantastic partnership - we've all seen in the last year the power that research has !