On the 6 March, I will be starting the ascent of Africa’s tallest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro. At 19, 341 feet above sea level, it is not only the highest mountain in Africa, but also the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. The climb will take us 6 days, arriving at the summit at dawn on the 10 of March.

 

While a successful climb will hopefully bring a considerable amount of personal satisfaction coupled with a great sense of achievement, it is more importantly a challenge of both mental and physical strength, undertaken in aid of charity. The whole team will be climbing in aid of the Cancer Vaccine Institute, a charity that lives very close to the heart for a number of the climbers.

 

In December 2006, Lucy Claire Sands the fiancée of a close friend of mine George Bouwens, was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. Worryingly common among young women, and the most rife form of cancer in people aged 15-34, melanoma is a cancer that usually starts in the skin, either in a mole or in normal-looking skin. The number of people developing melanoma is rising, with more than 10,600 people being diagnosed per year in the UK alone.

 

For Lucy, the diagnosis came with life threatening consequences. Through rigorous treatment and numerous operations, Lucy never asked ‘why me’ and bore all of it with incredible grace and poise. In 2010, 4 years after her diagnosis, Lucy came under the watch of Professor Angus Dalgleish.  Dalgleish, a Professor in Oncology, had been involved in many vaccine programmes, working particularly against Melanoma. Nearly all of his work on immune response to cancer and the development of vaccines has been funded by The Cancer Vaccine Institute.

 

Under Dalgleish’s watch, Lucy participated in experimental trials of the Cancer vaccines M Vaccae and Immodulon. As her health deteriorated Lucy started a course of chemotherapy, and this together with the vaccines displayed remarkable affects. After 4 months she was able to return to work, attend weddings and parties, and start living a normal life again.

 

Any charity that aims to combat cancer holds a particular note with me, after my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. Through the removal of the tumour, a course of chemotherapy spanning 5 months, incredible assistance from the Doctors and Nurses at Odstock hospital in Salisbury, UK, an endless support stream of friends and family, and most importantly of all, the mental strength displayed by Mum, something I cannot begin to describe and hold nothing else in higher esteem – she beat cancer, and has since been able to return to life as it was before.

 

While Mum was able go through cancer and come out the other side, it was sadly not the case for Lucy. In December 2011, 5 years after her initial diagnosis, and after a year of Professor Dalgleish’s experimental trials, Lucy passed away, at the tender age of 28.

 

1 in 3 people in the UK are directly affected by cancer, and the CVI (originally set up by the families of patients who had benefited greatly from earlier trials) is the only national charity specifically funding research to fight cancer with vaccines. They are determined and confident that these vaccines will become an accepted form of treatment, enabling patients to live longer with a better quality of life.

 

 

The CVI, myself, and the rest of the climbers taking on Kilimanjaro next month, would be incredibly grateful for any donation you could make, and know that it will be making a great difference in the on-going battle against Cancer.