Update for 22/4/2020

We aren't doing the abseil this weekend as we hoped, but Emily has produced an excellent poem to commemorate the event:

Team Radiotherapy and the Almost Abseil 😬

Now I might be imagining it...was it Lennon who said,
When you’re busy planning one thing, life happens instead?
Please pin back your ears and I’ll tell you the tale,
Of Team Radiotherapy and the Almost Abseil,
So we know from experience that money is scarce,
And that funds they are tight in the great NHS,
Had this year been different, on this Saturday,
We were meant to abseil- to raise money; hooray!
Funds for research, to refurbish our ward,
Covering costs that the NHS cannot afford.
Down the side of the hospital we wanted to go,
In front of our families, who would cheer from below,
To go over the edge and bring in some cash,
Sadly though all of our plans turned to trash 😕
Our chance to be brave was a much bigger task,
Not dangling from ropes, but in visors and masks,
Instead of an abseil performed by the team,
We’re now battling Cancer AND Covid-19,
So the abseil is off, whilst we deal with this fight,
We’ll do it again when the timing is right,
We will not give up though, we want to do more.
Charities need our help now, more than ever before,
We don’t want to sound cheeky- we’re grateful to think,
We could still raise some money- please follow this link

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/The-BHOC-Abseil-Team-2020?fbclid=IwAR1JGKxRAJId8imPdyPk1cx-ul_ZJt3kxO7CQvpaMULF6m3MyTGeH4GuEtQ 

End of update

Regardless of their fear for heights, staff from the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre (BHOC) are raising money for the Above and Beyond hospital charity.

On Saturday the 25th April 2020, 11 staff from the Radiotherapy team will be taking their lives in their hands (hopefully in the hands of trained professionals as well), by abseiling down the children’s hospital! Plunging down what feels like a mile of sheer skyscraper, the radiotherapy team are asking for your donations to encourage them to do it.

They will be raising money for the Above and Beyond (A&B) Charity, and every single donation is valuable and A&B are committed to ensuring that your money is spent wisely for the benefit of patients, the families and the staff who treat them in Bristol city centre hospitals. 

With the number of people diagnosed with cancer in Bristol increasing by 9% each year, Above & Beyond is funding further world-class cancer research.

At the BHOC , researchers are working hard to understand how cancers develop, why the immune system does not recognise cancers and how cancers cells spread through the body. In order to provide cancer patients from Bristol and the South West with the best possible treatment options, and help to advance new ones, Above & Beyond aims to significantly increase investment into pioneering cancer research projects.

“The oncology research team is delighted to have had support from Above & Beyond over the last five years. During this time, the charity has donated over £650,000 towards innovative cancer research at the hospitals.

The money has been used to fund cutting-edge clinical studies and research that will directly benefit cancer patients across Bristol. This includes developing and testing new treatments for cancer, including medicines, surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.” - Professor David Wynick, Director of Research for UH Bristol.

Thanks so much for reading

BHOC Team