What is the work of Kidscan charity?

“In short, we are one of a small number of charities in the UK, solely dedicated to combating children’s cancer. We fund and manage research into new and improved treatments for children with cancer.  The charity is 17-years-old, set up by a group of medical scientists who were concerned that research into the life-threatening issue of children’s cancers was not improving at the rate they felt it should.

“We receive no statutory funding, but with the contributions from the public, volunteers and businesses we fund research to develop new treatments that not only cure children with cancer but also prevent the side effects of current treatments such as learning difficulties, mobility issues and infertility”.

What is its connection to Salford University?

“People are sometimes surprised to learn that there is a lab at Salford University, headed by Professor David Pye dedicated to the charity’s research. Since we launched in 2002, Kidscan has funded over 50 research projects and a development of one treatment is currently undergoing pre-clinical evaluation.

“The University also hosts our offices and supports us on many different operational aspects involving staff and students on all levels”.   

What developments have been enabled because of Kidscan?

“Our development of a treatment obtained from complex sugars derived from Irish Sea shellfish is currently undergoing preclinical evaluation. A new drug designed and synthesised by University of Salford scientists supported by Kidscan has helped to discover a way of allowing healthy cells to take charge of cancerous cells, stopping them developing into tumours. This could provide a new approach to treating early-stage cancers. Researchers at Salford and the University of Manchester found that a special type of the chemicals known as ‘kinase inhibitors’ opened up communication channels on the surface of cells, enabling healthy cells to ‘talk’ to the cancer cells and make them behave like normal healthy cells.

“We have also shown that manipulation of the amino acid Methionine in the blood can affect the proliferation of cancer cells. It was found that depletion of Methionine made the cancer cells more resistant to the clinically-used anticancer drugs Cisplatinum and Temozolamide, indicating that modulation of Methionine may be damaging when used in combination with these drugs”.

What does your role as CEO of the charity involve?

“My role is to forge partnerships with individuals, businesses, companies, other charities and voluntary organisations and to lead our great Kidscan team, where together, we can enable more research to be funded in order to develop treatments that are less damaging to the bodies of children and young adults.

“Over the past three months I have had the opportunity to take a number of our corporate and individual supporters to see the laboratory and supporters or would be supporters are able to find out for themselves about the ground-breaking research happening here in Salford”.

What was your background before joining the charity?

“I joined the charity in January 2019. My professional life began in print media, where I progressed to senior management positions with a number of major regional evening newspapers. In the early 90’s I moved to the charitable sector as Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Youth Games attracting the highest attendance of International Olympic Committee Members to a youth event. Since then I have led many charitable organisations including Greater Manchester Community Foundation, and the International Variety Club Children’s Charity in the North West”.

How can people get involved and or support the charity?

“Whether we are working alongside a large corporate organisation such as Squires Patton Boggs or a local business or individual we believe we are all in this together and so we work to find the best way we can assist Kidscan supporters’ efforts. Whether a company chooses us as charity of the year, a business agrees to take one of our collecting tins or organises a coffee morning we are delighted to help. For instance, recently Lime Bar at Salford Quays held a coffee morning for us. No idea or support is too small or too big – we can customise any initiative to suit any person or occasion”.

For more details about Kidscan visit www.kidscan.org.uk or for an informal chat about how you can get involved call Bob on 0161 295 3864.

Read: ‘Cancer does not make you look at death but at the life you are living,’ Zoë Law

The post Kidscan – Salford’s ground-breaking cancer research charity appeared first on Quays Life.

Maggie shared her ideas with her husband, Charles Jencks and her former oncology nurse Laura Lee, who is now Chief Executive for the charity which grew from those early discussions, Maggie’s.

The first Maggie’s Centre opened in 1996 in Edinburgh. There are now 22 Maggie’s centres across the country, offering people the practical and emotional support needed to cope with the challenges that living with and beyond cancer brings, delivered by qualified professionals within a space that enables them to meet other people who understand what it means to be living with cancer too.

Photographer Zoë Law has been an avid supporter of Maggie’s for many years and with personal experiences of cancer within her own family it felt a natural fit for her to work with Maggie’s on a photographic project which placed people living with cancer at its heart.

Over the course of a year, Zoë invited people living with cancer to her London studio to take part in a photoshoot with their family and friends. All of those who took part have been supported by Maggie’s across the UK through their different cancer experiences.

 “This project was one if the hardest things I’ve undertaken because it was so important to me to show each person’s strength and move the focus away from their cancer. For the portraits to share how cancer does not define them, nor has it taken away their essence,” says Zoë. 

“The people who came to my studio taught me a great deal. Primarily that a cancer diagnosis isn’t the end but a way of looking at life differently. What the subjects of these portraits said is that cancer had given them time. Time to live in the moment, time to appreciate the everyday and time to tell friends and family how much they are loved”.

The photographs were originally taken to mark the 21st birthday of
Maggie’s in 2017, and were curated into an exhibition called, LIFE by Ab Rogers Design. LIFE was launched at Christie’s in London the same year and opens at The Lowry, Salford Quays in May.

Zoë adds: “I called the project LIFE because the sense that came from the photographs was that cancer does not make you look at death but at the life you are living.”

Life – A photographic exhibition by Zoë Law is at The Lowry in Salford from Saturday 11 May – Sunday 9 June 2019.

Limited edition LIFE books were produced to accompany the exhibition and are available to buy online, with all proceeds going to Maggie’s. For more details about the work of Maggie’s visit www.maggiescentres.org

Read about County Durham’s Centenary celebrations for mining artist Norman Cornish.

The post ‘Cancer does not make you look at death but at the life you are living,’ Zoë Law appeared first on Quays Life.