On July 29th 2018 we lost our darling Dom, aged 44. He died from a cancer called Mucosal Melanoma, which is a rare form of malignant melanoma (skin cancer) that affects the lining of various parts of the body (such as nasal passages, mouth, bowel etc) rather than the skin itself.

Dom was my beloved husband and the devoted father of our daughters Lily (age 10) and Gracie (age 9) and he died too young. He was deeply loved by all his family and friends and was the kindest, funniest, wisest, most compassionate and giving soul I have ever known. He was also the healthiest of men and did all the ‘right’ things – drank green tea, munched on super foods, exercised daily and took part in triathlons, but Mucosal Melanoma takes no prisoners (or at least very few). 

Mucosal Melanoma is a rare and very aggressive cancer which easily spreads to other parts of the body, especially the brain (which happened to Dom), and causes metastatic (secondary) cancers.  It is very difficult to treat and in general has a very poor outcome, although around 10-20% of cases are sensitive to some targeted drugs and it is highly likely that others have yet to be identified through research. Yet there is currently no funding for research into Mucosal Melanoma from either the NHS or any of the big cancer charities and there can be no research without funding. In fact, there is generally a huge imbalance between the percentage of people that die of a rare or less common cancer (56% of all cancer deaths) and the amount of national funding that goes into rare cancer research (only 5.1% of total National Cancer Research Institute members spend goes into rare cancer research)*.

I want to help change this and that is why I set up this memorial fund in Dom’s name. My original aim back in October 2018 was to raise £90k over three years to directly fund a new three year research project into Mucosal Melanoma, which would be carried out by a PhD student at Imperial College. Due to the incredible support we have received to date from friends, family and colleagues (including extraordinarily generous donations from Bridgepoint, the company that Dom worked for, and the Utley Foundation) we smashed the £90k in just 7 months and were therefore able to commit to expanding the remit of the project to create a whole new team focusing on Mucosal Melanoma and Metastatic Brain Tumour Research.

The team will include two full time PhD students (one focusing on mechanistic testing of previously-identified markers which suggest the diagnosis of mucosal melanoma, and one focusing on Bio-Informatic analysis on the markers that will have been identified through the sequencing of tissue) who will be supervised by a Senior Research Fellow (the brilliant Dr Nelofer Syed BSc PhD).This will be the world’s only research group focusing on mucosal melanoma as well as one of very few groups in the UK focussing on metastatic brain tumours. The research will significantly improve understanding of this aggressive cancer, help us to understand why different cancers metastasise to the brain and help us find new treatments that will ultimately save lives in the future. If I can help spare just one family in the future the pain of losing someone they love, then my job will be done.

The cost of funding this new Mucosal Melanoma and Metastatic Brain Tumour Research Group is £270k over three years. After just 16 months, since I launched Dom’s, we have raised 93% of this target which is totally incredible and I am eternally grateful to all those who have kindly chosen to donate to the Dom Magee Memorial Fund. 

Special thanks must also go to the following people for their incredible generosity and fundraising efforts over the last 7 months: The Robin and Samantha Wemyss Foundation; Neil Rickard who raised money running in the Saxon Shore Half Marathon; parents from Hornsby House School who generously bidded for prizes in the charity auction at the school ball and the intrepid trekkers of Bridgepoint Europe who braved three peaks in Alps (in the snow!).

Any funding that we receive over and above the £270k will go towards extending the three-year Mucosal Melanoma project and funding further research into metastatic melanoma and brain tumours (up to 40% of all cancers spread to the brain and brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer). 

The charity that all donations will pass into and set up and manage the lab is the Brain Tumour Research Campaign (BTRC). This will ensure every penny goes into project and that all donations receive gift aid (where eligible).