The Ralph Bates Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund

Newsletter Spring 2018

An earlier edition of our Newsletter this time. We needed to write to you about Data Protection- see the enclosed letter- and thought we’d take the opportunity to give you a brief update.

First of all, we have a new logo! No- we haven’t spent your hard-earned donations pouring over lots of fancy alternatives and we’re not rebranding everything. All our stationery is printed as we need it, so there’s no wastage. And it hasn’t cost us anything because a dedicated colleague of one of our Trustees put together a few ideas in her own time. She did a brilliant job and we’re very grateful to her for giving up her well-earned private time.

Pancreatic cancer is still languishing at the bottom of the various league tables published in the media. One of the latest shows that pancreatic cancer in the UK has a five-year survival rate of just 6.8% and that out of 56 countries surveyed, the UK is number 47. Not good, despite the extensive research being undertaken.

With your donations, we have continued to support research at St George’s, University of London. Dr Androulla Elia’s team is still working hard researching the effect of protein control on pancreatic cancer cells and has had some interesting results. An article by Androulla (and others) was recently published in the magazine “Cell Death and Disease”. Acceptance by the magazine helps to underline the importance placed on the progress being made by the team, as such articles go through stringent checking. It’s highly technical by the way, in case you’re tempted to search the web!

Likewise, Prof. Dalgleish’s team continues to pursue a combination of drugs which could fight pancreatic cancer cells. The team are now concentrating on “unusual” combinations which are less toxic or non- toxic as it’s likely that continuing research into combinations of current, known chemotherapies will not produce the results required.

And at Kingston University, the short-term project we helped to fund has ended. This project researched the way laboratory produced proteins could fix themselves to the surface of pancreatic cancer cells to kill those cells or to enhance immunity. The team are pleased with the results, which have been presented at a Cancer Research conference in Chicago and also published in the magazine “Oncotarget”. Here again, some good results from our research!

As you know, we couldn’t support our research without your valuable help.
The Valuation Dept. at property company CBRE Group’s London Office kindly held a cake sale at Christmas to raise donations for our Fund. They did extremely well and have now “adopted” our Fund for future events. Here’s a few of the cake eaters, wearing their mandatory Christmas jumpers! Many thanks!

And on April 22nd, Sam Baly, the son of one of our Trustees and Grandson of the late Pat Baly, one of our Founders, is running in the London Marathon in aid of our Fund. He’s been training hard and we wish him the best of luck.

As you can imagine, we don’t really mind where we get our donations from- provided it’s legal! Here’s one of our collection boxes cuddling up to a jar of pickled onions in Michael’s Fish and chip Bar in Bookham, Surrey. Thanks for your support, Michael.

It’s always worth reiterating the dangers of not seeking medical advice if you or anyone you know show symptoms which might indicate pancreatic cancer. Don’t forget-

  • Over 9500 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. That’s about 26 every day.
  • Over 8500 people die of the illness each year. 23 every day. Looks pretty here, doesn’t it? It may kill you if it becomes cancerous. So, what are the symptoms? It’s difficult to generalise, but if you or someone you know has any of these symptoms, it’s essential to see a doctor – without delay! Early diagnosis could make all the difference, as it’s essential to catch this aggressive illness early;
  • Yellow skin or eyes and/or itchy skin. This is called “jaundice”.
  • Unexplained weight loss.
  • Tummy pain, especially at the top of the abdomen, which may radiate to the back, or unexplained mid-back pain.
  • Bowel changes such as oily, floating faeces (stools).

And remember – pancreatic cancer doesn’t discriminate between sexes and doesn’t care how old you are.

Data Protection is an important topic, as we’ve seen in the media recently regarding the misappropriation of personal data. Everyone has the right to expect their personal details to be kept secure and with our Fund, you’re assured it will be. Please take a couple of minutes to complete the enclosed form as we want to stay in touch with you and without your support, vital research into a most debilitating and aggressive illness cannot continue.
Many thanks. The Trustees. April 2018.

Making a donation. Donations can be made;

Directly to the Administration address shown below.

By direct transfer to our bank account at:
Sort code; 40-26-07. Account number; 81635190.

Please quote your name as the reference.

By donating online by credit or debit card with either;

MyDonate at www.mydonate.bt.com or

Justgiving at www.justgiving.com/rbpcr/donate or

Virgin Money Giving at www.virginmoneygiving.com.

They all reclaim Gift Aid for us where applicable.

Leaving a Legacy in your Will. If you want to know more about leaving a legacy, please visit our web site at www.ralphbatespcr.org.uk.

Gift Aid. If you are a UK tax payer we can claim 25p from HMRC for every £1 you donate. You can download a Gift Aid declaration from our web site but no need to do this if you donate through one of the web sites named above. They take care of Gift Aid. You must be a UK tax payer and if you pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all your donations in a tax year (April 6 to April 5) it is your responsibility to pay any difference.

Patron: Sir Peter Blake CBE, RDI, RA
Trustees: Virginia Bates, Dr John Glees MD, FRCR, DMRT,
Sharon Sullivan, Michael Bridge FCA,
Nigel Baly BSC, MRICS, Les Biggs ACIS (Secretary).
Registered Charity No. 1007819.

Admin address; 317 Old Bedford Road, Luton, LU2 7BL.
Telephone; 01582 576100 or 07785 281901.
Email; L.Biggs@Ralphbatespcr.org.uk.

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