Thank you for visiting my Just Giving page in support of the MRI-PET Scanner Campaign.

I am hoping to raise at least £125,000 for this campaign to help reach the overall £2 million funding target.

I ran the London the London Marathon two years ago and vowed never to do it again as it was the most painful thing I have ever done.

In order to hit my target I therefore have chosen the worst challenge I could think of, another Marathon!

We are often asked to contribute to fund research into one particular disease and so what I found different in the Scanner Campaign was an opportunity to further important research across many different areas.

I wont be setting any records but I will finish and I will be in pain. I hope that this will encourage people to donate! Even a small amount will make a difference.

Below is a letter from Professor Dame Pam Shaw to let you know a bit more about  the Scanner campaign.

A Letter from Professor Dame Pam Shaw

Vice President & Head of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health, University of Sheffield.

Consultant Neurologist, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

You must be reading this because you are supporting Rob Pulford to run the Marathon du Médoc on 8th September to help us bring an MRI-PET scanner to Yorkshire. Please allow me to explain what this is and why it is so important.

MRI-PET is an incredibly sophisticated imaging technology

– the most complex and powerful type of scanner available. Unlike other scanners, MRI-PET shows us both anatomy and metabolic activity in a single scan

– allowing doctors and researchers to see what is happening inside the body with unprecedented detail and whether diseased organs are responding to treatment in real time.

This scanner will help us pioneer research into illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, epilepsy, heart and lung disease, motor neurone disease (MND), multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke.  

It will also bring opportunities for diagnosing medical conditions more rapidly and will allow us to target treatment in a way we simply can’t at the moment.

Right now there are only two scanners of this kind in the UK that are being used to study a range of diseases - the other five are funded exclusively for dementia research.

We are doing this in Sheffield because we are a world-leading centre for health research and we lead the UK's only Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to Neurology. Our patients come to us from all over the UK. We’re already making incredible progress in our research and treatments – but with more powerful medical imaging technology we could do so much more.

The scanner will be sited in a purpose-built facility integrated into the NHS hospital where we also have our Medical School, and where our research academic staff are also the clinicians treating patients. Please click  

https://digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/Sheffield+Scanner+flythrough/1_0t4dhh3c

to view a video of the ‘fly through’ of the facility.

Many of us have been touched by serious diseases in some way. I know that Rob is passionate about supporting this campaign as it will help accelerate our understanding of many different disease types and it will help bring new therapies to the clinic more rapidly.

I’ve been so moved by the response we’ve had to campaign already – in fact, we’ve already received over £1.5 million in donations towards our target of £2 million. You can read some of the personal stories from people who are supporting this Campaign, including one of my patients who has MND, here: 

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/alumni/sheffieldscanner

Please support Rob to help us to reach our target and to help us to create better treatments and save more lives in the UK and beyond.

With all good wishes and heartfelt thanks,

Professor Dame Pamela Shaw

Thanks for your support.

Rob