Story
My lovely friend Jackie lost her fight against pancreatic cancer on 19th July 2012, aged just 46, leaving her husband David and two girls. Under David's leadership we have been raising money as Team Jackie and so far have raised £225k for The Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, doing all sorts of sporting events - which Jackie would find hilarious being not the sportiest of individuals!
Adam and I have been absent from Team Jackie for the last 2 years recovering from knee surgery so we're delighted to be back in action for the Prudential Ride London - 100 miles, starting from the Olympic Stadium, riding on closed roads through London, the Surrey Hills and back to London, finishing on the Mall. It's the same route used for The 2012 Olympic Road Race.
Alison and Helen join Team Jackie for their first event - and have picked a tough one!
Not being one to make things easy Adam is also doing La Marmotte - a legendary 174 km road cycle race, featuring 5,000m of height gain. Starting from Bourg d’Oisans, going through the famous mountain passes (cols) of Glandon, Télégraphe and Galibier and finishing at Alpe d’Huez.
We're looking to raise £300k to enable a further 3 years of research project. We have chosen to support The Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. Pancreatic cancer is known as the silent killer. By the time it is diagnosed it is usually too late. It has the worst survival rate of any common cancer – only 3 in every 100 people diagnosed will live for 5 years. This figure has not improved in 40 years and now has the lowest survival rate of any cancer. This cancer is so aggressive, by the time it’s diagnosed, 90% of people will be told that they are terminally ill and given 6-12 months to live. Pancreatic cancer is the UK’s 5th biggest cancer killer yet receives only than 1% overall research funding. With a higher profile we hope that more attention and funding will be allocated to this disease. There has been an almost criminal lack of progress on pancreatic cancer and having seen this wonderful person suffer so, it is time to change this. With recent developments in genetics and immunotherapy, it feels at last that significant progress is within our grasp against this terrible disease.