We did it Team LD!

We are delighted to announce that, with your incredible support, we have exceeded our appeal target! As of today, our appeal total stands at £1,258,406.98 and is still growing.

You have run marathons, baked cakes, walked up mountains, organised concerts, auctions and balls, got your clubs and workplaces involved, and so much more. We were finally taken over the line by the funds raised at two events last weekend; the Sponsored Ruby Walk at Lake Vyrnwy, organised by the Lewis-Jones family, and the Scott & Newman Ltd Centenary Celebration event at Ludlow Racecourse. Every single penny donated has helped us to get here, and we are so grateful. It has been a tough two years, but here we are, with three weeks still to go until our 40th Anniversary!

The money from this appeal has allowed us to…

• Help the team in the Chemotherapy Day Unit to deliver medication more easily to people with weak veins or needle phobia through the purchase of a PICC Line Placement Machine and PICC Passports.
• Provide funding for an MRI Guided Prostate Biopsy Machine, which makes biopsies more accurate and reduce the need for repeat procedures; this means faster diagnosis and potentially more effective treatment.
• Support the employment of the first ever Lingen Davies Oncoloy Nurse Specialists. Sarah, Kate and Rachael are working hard to support people from the point of diagnosis right through their treatment. We are providing funding for these roles for their first two years.
• Enable the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust to purchase two colorectal scope guides and two endoscopic ultrasound scopes; these scopes are used to diagnosis cancers in the digestive system quickly and accurately.
• Provide funding to continue and expand the Get Active, Feel Good programme until 2021. this programme, run in partnership with Shropshire Council and Lifestyle Fitness, helps people to feel better and improve their treatment outcomes by moving around more and taking part in physical activity.
• Work with Shrewbury Town in the Community to introduce the Kick Cancer scheme; giving people with cancer a chance to take part in a range of sports and social activities to aid their physical and mental recovery.
• Improve the process of analysing and recording samples of tissue in the pathology lab, improving efficiency and turnaround times for diagnosing cancers, through the purchase of a Macropix Digital Imaging System.
• Continue to support the delivery of holistic therapies to people with cancer at the Hamar Centre, to improve their wellbeing during treatment.
• Support the radiotherapy team to deliver treatment to patients with lung or left-sided breast cancer while minimising damage to the heart by using breath-hold techniques. We have funded the purchase of a Visual Coaching Device that helps patients to hold their breath at the right level while treatment is delivered.

We are very proud of these achievements and cannot thank you, our supporters, enough for helping us to get there. They will make a huge difference to people affected by cancer in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, and Mid Wales.

So, what now? We’re not going to stop!

We’ll keep raising funds and we need you to do the same; we have recently agreed to raise £105,000 to fund two Endobronchial Ultrasound  (EBUS) Endoscopes- vital equipment used in the diagnosis of lung cancer. The EBUS scope is able to take biopsies of tissue and fluid without the need to invasive surgery. This makes the process less risky and more comfortable for patients. Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 13% of all cancers. Unfortunately outcomes for patients with cancer are poor, with only 5 out of 100 people surviving for 10 years or more. However, the chance of treatment being successful is much higher if the cancer is diagnosed early.

With your support we know we can fund this equipment before the end of 2019, and we’re already thinking about our plans for 2020 and beyond.

For now, we’re so, so pleased to have reached this target, and we’re looking forward to celebrating our 40th birthday!

Thank you, everyone.