More Research = More Life

Yvonne’s story:

Just over two years ago, having always been fit and taken my health for granted, I received a life-changing diagnosis that I had stage 4, incurable lung cancer. From those early days when my husband Quentin and I were imaging the worst (given the shocking prognosis for lung cancer), came the saving grace that my lung cancer is driven by a genetic mutation called ALK-positive. Those letters mean that while incurable, my lung cancer is treatable.

The beautiful thing about this ugly situation is that you meet the most amazing people. I’m working with a few fantastic patient advocates in helping to establish a new UK-based charity called Oncogene Cancer Research. We’re focused on funding research into ALK and other oncogene cancers. The donations here will go towards registering this charity and be put straight into research.

Jan’s story

My daughter Amy had a small fall and experienced some rib pain. It wouldn’t go away so she decided to have this investigated by her doctor. We later got the shocking diagnosis that Amy had stage 4, ALK+ lung cancer with metastases to the bones at the young age 20.

Thanks to research, Amy’s inhibitor is currently working and she’s back to work, climbing mountains and socialising with friends - as any 24 year-old would want to. My role, as her mother and advocate, is to keep pushing for advances in lung cancer so my daughter can live a full live and eventually we can find a cure.

Stronger Together

Lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths by far, receives a disproportionately low share of funding. Anyone can get it. For men and women who never smoked, lung cancer is the 7th leading cause of cancer death worldwide. But no two lung cancers are there same. There are different types, subtypes and mutations – like EGFR, RET and ROS1, and others along with ALK.

Today, thanks to research into oncogene-driven lung cancers like Yvonne and Amy‘s, median survival for ALK+ lung cancer is 6.8 years. Some of the other oncogene lung cancers are not that lucky. With more research, we can do better.

Last year Yvonne and her husband Quentin, with the generosity of friends, family and colleagues, fundraised £17k. The Clark family fundraised another £15k+ for research. We are pleased to share that this money is helping to fund a tissue bank that The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital in the UK are establishing to study ALK, EGFR and other oncogene lung cancers. We hope to do even more for those who have these diseases and for those who will may be blindsided by a diagnosis tomorrow. Any donation would help.