Last year I took part in a cycling challenge to raise money for One More City, a charity that raises money to fund research into new treatment options for people with secondary breast cancer. To date the charity has raised more than £250,000 which has funded 2 PhD students and is very close to having enough to fund another, its second at the Institute of Cancer Research. The charity was set up by and run by Christine O’Connell whoniz currently living with stage 4 breast cancer. 100% of money raised goes towards funding the research students.

In late September 2023 the next stage starts where we finished in 2022, in Munich. Four days later we arrive in Venice after crossing the Dolomites. It’s going to be a tough, but spectacular few days! We are cycling 563km and climbing 9,043km over the 4 days.

The ethos of One More City is that the journey is never over; we are always progressing towards the next city, there are always more kilometres to do, more climbs to conquer and more challenges to face. This is akin to the reality of anyone living with cancer, especially secondary cancer, for whom the challenge is never over; there are always more treatments to endure, more scans to face, more side effects to manage

In Christine’s own words:

“In 20-30% of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, the disease later spreads to another part of the body – and my hope is that One More City will help find a way to give patients a longer life. By funding a PhD student, we're contributing more than just a piece of equipment – we're helping to give someone a future, and that someone will become a great scientist. My hope is that one day we will be able to say cancer is a chronic disease that you can live with and live well with. I think this is a realistic hope. We are making exciting advances against cancer, which are helping people live longer and better. To continue discovering smarter treatments, we need the very brightest cancer scientists and clinicians.”

I would be so grateful if you could donate to help train the next generation of PhD scientists who will find tomorrow’s cancer treatments.