Participants in the We Walk For Yorkshire campaign will cover 35,000 miles across the county, over the next month
Nicky Hill, head of Active Together at Yorkshire Cancer Research (left) with Josie Clark (holding the baton).
Yorkshire Cancer Research’s We Walk for Yorkshire Campaign Baton Relay(Image: Jonathan Pow/jp@jonathanpow.com)
Cancer sufferers and their supporters have begun a county-wide baton relay in Hull as part of a fundraising campaign. Supporters of Yorkshire Cancer Research’s We Walk For Yorkshire campaign will travel 35,000 miles through 35 locations in Yorkshire and Humber to mark the 35,000 diagnosed with the disease every year in the region.
The month-long effort got under way from the charity’s centre on Ferensway in the city with the baton expected to wind its way to Yorkshire Cancer Research Centre in Harrogate by May 28. Before that it will pass through the county’s historic cities, rural market towns, along its coast and through the Dales with money raised along the way.
Each baton-bearer is invited to share a name of a person they are walking for and place personal messages inside the baton as it makes its journey across the region. Among the first was 60 year-old Josie Clark from near Bridlington, who has undergone treatment for nodular melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer.
Last year, Josie went see her GP having spotted a lump on her leg, and was told immediately that it was suspected skin cancer. She saw a specialist before having the lump removed but it had spread to her lymph nodes, leading to two major bouts of immunotherapy. Josie said the diagnosis came as a shock having “never burned, been on a sunbed or done any of the things you associate with cancer”.
She said: “I loved walking and I haven’t been able to do that much with the treatments and so on. So when I saw this come up on Facebook I thought, “oh, that seems like its just made for me”.
According to Yorkshire Cancer Research, people in the county are more likely to have their lives cut short by cancer than almost anywhere else in England. And Hull and East Riding remains one of the hardest hit, with 83 people per week diagnosed each week and 38 people dying.
Yorkshire Cancer Research says it is funding £75m of vital cancer research to find new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer in Yorkshire. The medical breakthroughs are helping more people live longer, healthier lives, free from cancer.
Josie added: “I’m grateful for immunotherapy and for the future, but I also realise for the future that we are in a place where this is high cancer. Let’s get more knowledge and more research done.”
In Hull, supporters, patients and cancer experts were joined by the Active Together Hull team, who offer a cancer exercise treatment service funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research, to help people prepare for and recover from their cancer treatment.
Dr Kathryn Scott, chief executive at Yorkshire Cancer Research, added: “Every year, 35,000 people in Yorkshire are told they have cancer, and far too many people in our region lose loved ones to the disease. But, thanks to continued investment in research, we’re seeing real progress, with new breakthroughs and discoveries leading to better treatments and cures which give people more precious time together.
“The Baton for Yorkshire is a visible reminder of the progress made possible thanks to pioneering research but the work that still needs to be done. Every person who carries the baton plays a vital role in the charity’s life-saving mission to find new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer in Yorkshire.
“Yorkshire Cancer Research is grateful to everyone taking part in this Yorkshire‑wide relay as part of this year’s We Walk for Yorkshire fundraising challenge. Covering the largest county in England is no small challenge, and it’s inspiring to see baton‑bearers from North, South, East and West Yorkshire all coming together to support the charity’s work.
“As the baton travels across the region throughout May, the charity hopes it will inspire even more people to support life-saving research and help move us closer to a Yorkshire free from cancer.”
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