NEWSFLASH - £1,206.78 raised from my bucket collection at Charing Cross.  This is being doubled by Towergate.  (thanks to Di, Pat and Sophie for your support)

Thanks for having a look at my Justgiving page.  If you were able to sponsor me it would be great because:

All donations will be DOUBLED by Towergate (my employer).  With Gift Aid this means a £26 donation will be worth a massive £59.28 to GOSH

Great Ormond Street is a great cause.  Anyone with kids will understand how important good care is when your children are involved.  Towergate is specifically trying to fund research into childhood leukaemia to allow earlier and less aggressive treatment.

I am working my butt off to do this marathon.  But its not just me, Fiona, Lucy and Freddie are having to support as well and put up with daddy disappearing for long periods.  This is my first marathon and I didn't realise how big the commitment is.  But I am determined to get under 4 hours (so I never have to do it again).  Maybe you want to set a challenge

As you all know donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSHCC) gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

So please sponsor me now!

Dave

The past 40 years have seen a steady improvement in survival rates for children with leukaemia.  However, this has resulted from the use of increasingly intensive treatments.  Many children cured with modern chemotherapy are therefore probably being over treated.  Nevertheless, a number of children relapse and leukaemia remains the most common cause of death from cancer in childhood.

Curing childhood leukaemia therefore requires a delicate balance between the potentially toxic side effects of therapy and effective control of the disease.  Crucial to this process is for doctors to know how much leukaemia is present – the more leukaemic cells there are in a patient’s blood, the greater the dose of therapy is needed to fight them off and the larger the potential side effects.

This pioneering project will use the latest genetic technology to measure tiny levels of disease in children with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).  Knowing exactly how much disease is present will allow doctors to target the most intensive treatment specifically to those patients who need it the most.  It will also allow treatment to be started earlier – tackling the disease at a point when it is less likely to have taken hold.

Dr Nick Goulden and his fellow investigators are national experts in their field, and have proven the success of this technique for other types of acute leukaemia.  It is envisaged that should the project be successful, within three years, the techniques from the laboratory will be rolled out to a NHS-funded protocol, influencing therapy for patients with AML across the country and, ultimately, around the world.