The £20m ‘Re-Write Cancer’ campaign launches in Chadderton

Date published: 29 November 2019


BREAST cancer survivor Sharon Quennell has unveiled an engraved park bench in her home town of Chadderton – but one unlike any other.

In a twist to the ‘in memoriam’ benches that are a familiar site in beauty spots across the country, Sharon’s bench attests to her recovery from cancer and salutes the scientists, doctors and nurses who are making game-changing progress in tackling the disease.

The inscription reads: “Sharon Quennell loved sitting here….and still does thanks to advances in cancer research.”

The bench was revealed to launch the ‘Re-Write Cancer’ campaign – a £20m joint fundraising appeal from Cancer Research UK, The Christie Charitable Fund and The University of Manchester.

The campaign aims to help meet the cost of a new £150m cancer research facility. The new building will bring together the largest concentration of scientists, doctors and nurses in Europe to collaborate and accelerate progress for cancer patients.

The world-class facility - due to open in 2022 - will be twice the size of the Paterson building which was extensively damaged by fire in 2017.

Adjoining The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, it has been purposefully designed to foster collaboration and speed up progress on behalf of cancer patients in the North West and across the world.

Uniting three powerhouses of innovation - Cancer Research UK - The Christie and The University of Manchester - the flagship project will enable Manchester to lead the world in recruiting patients to clinical trials within a decade, resulting in more patients receiving new cancer treatments leading to improved outcomes and survival rates. Clinical trials are vital to find out if new treatments are safe and better than current treatments.

Sharon unveiled her bench outside Chadderton Town Hall.

The 55-year-old, who lives in Chadderton, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 at the age of 36 after noticing a lump on her left breast. 

She underwent surgery followed by 12 weeks of chemotherapy treatment. 

Sharon, who works at North Manchester General Hospital, made a good recovery. She will celebrate 20 years in the clear from cancer in 2020.

Sharon is a single mum to Ryan, aged 25, who has autism and learning disabilities.     

She said: “It’s an absolute honour to be involved in the Re-Write Cancer campaign.

“Having attended lab tours of the Paterson building, I was heartbroken when I heard the news about the fire. It was such a shock.

“Plans for the new research building sound exciting and it’s amazing that such a world-leading facility will be built on my doorstep in the North West. Research into cancer is the key to changing lives now and in the future. Without it I simply wouldn’t be standing – or sitting - here today.”

A similar bench has been placed in the grounds of The University of Manchester dedicated to renowned broadcaster Mark Radcliffe who was successfully treated for cancer last year.

Construction will take place in the same location as the Paterson building which was home to the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute and other research teams from The University of Manchester.

Although much vital research work was salvaged by firefighters, more than 300 scientists and support staff were displaced and are temporarily relocated 13 miles away at Alderley Park in Cheshire.

The new purpose-built biomedical facility will house several hundred members of staff and attract collaborators from far and wide. Its adjoining of The Christie will enable cells and samples from cancer patients to be taken to the research lab in a matter of minutes – facilitating world leading research which will lead to new cancer treatments.

Manchester is a place of world-firsts in cancer research, including the first clinical use of Tamoxifen for breast cancer and the first single harvest blood stem-cell transplant.

Cancer cases in Greater Manchester are significantly higher than anywhere else in the UK – every day 18 people die from the disease in Greater Manchester.

This amounts to 6500 people a year – making the death toll around 10 per cent higher than the UK average.

The ‘Re-Write Cancer’ campaign will deliver the remaining funding commitment of £20m needed for the new building, which is expected to open in early 2022.

Cancer Research UK chief executive, Michelle Mitchell said: “I’m thrilled at plans for the new research facility. We’re in a ‘golden age’ of cancer research, with survival rates having doubled over the past 40 years.

This has largely been driven by improvements in treatments and early diagnosis, but we still have a long way to go in the fight against the disease. By 2030, the building will be at the heart of our ambition to lead the world in clinical trial recruitment – supporting the development of new and kinder cancer therapies.”

For more information on the “Re-Write Cancer” fundraising campaign visit: cruk.org/rewrite


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