When diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer back in 2017, the outlook was bleak for Heaton's Keith Farquharson.
Half of those with the condition live less than a year. But five years later, and after being on a ground-breaking clinical trial since 2018 thanks to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, he's deeply thankful for the extra years he's so far been able to spend with his son.
Keith, 48, himself raised £5,700 for the Foundation himself in 2020 with a lockdown cycling challenge which took him the 2000km - the distance of the Tour de France - without leaving his back garden while he was shielding. Now - along with Billingham teenager Rebecca Henderson, 16, he's featured in a video marking a the Newcastle Building Society's decade-long commitment to supporting the cause too.
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Over the decade, the building society has raised upwards of £3m for the Foundation, which was set up by local hero and former Newcastle and England football manager Sir Bobby back in 2008. Keith has spoken about how being supported through the trial has changed his life.
He said: "Before anything gets into the mainstream, you need to check that it works, and from my point of view, even if the trial hadn’t worked for me, it creates data that can be used to help other people who might benefit from the drug. I was referred onto the Sir Bobby Robson unit for an immunotherapy trial that started in 2018, and I've been on that same trial ever since.
“It's bought me three and a half years of extra life so far, which is amazing. That’s three and a half more years with my son - he was four when I was first diagnosed and he'll be ten this year."
He said the length of time he had been cared for by the staff at the Sir Bobby Robson clinical trials unit at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care based at the Freeman in Newcastle meant it was "like a family" and "doesn't feel like hospital". He added: "These trials are going to help so many other people down the line and it's vital that they’re funded - simply put, without the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, I wouldn't still be here."
Rebecca, 16, has been suffering from cancer for nine years now - she has Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma a rare soft tissue cancer - and this has involved 11 rounds of chemotherapy. She relapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mum Tracy said she was thankful for the support of the Foundation and Newcastle Building Society. She added: "Crucially, the only new chemotherapy drug trial available to her was through the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, who were determined to work through the pandemic. This trial drug was the only thing that kept her alive and well during that time."
Lady Elsie Robson - Sir Bobby's widow - added: "From the very beginning, our relationship with Newcastle Building Society has been a very close partnership. Their support has had an extraordinary impact for the Foundation and has been nothing short of magnificent.
“The Society has always asked how will the money help cancer patients and what positive changes will it bring about - and in the last ten years, their amazing contributions have done an incredible amount of good."
Andrew Haigh, Chief Executive at Newcastle Building Society, said supporting the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation had been a "real honour" and paid tribute to the "truly inspirational" work it does. He added: "We are immensely proud to have been part of Sir Bobby’s ‘last and greatest team’ for so many years and to be contributing to something unique which makes a tremendous difference to the lives of so many people across our communities."
The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation is a fund that is part of the Newcastle Hospitals Charity. It has raised over £16m to find more effective ways to detect and treat cancer. It funds cutting-edge research along with projects like the trial Keith is on and which make a real difference to cancer patients in the North East.
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