Charity: Cancer Research UK
Receiving the news that you or a loved one is suffering from Cancer is a terrible blow and can be very difficult to deal with. That is why Cancer Research UK, an awareness programme, is fighting to find the treatments that can be used in treating the illness as well as promoting awareness and understanding of cancer.
Cancer Research UK is a young charity, having been founded in 2002 after joining two existing cancer charities (‘Cancer Research Campaign’ and ‘Imperial Cancer Research Fund’) together. Despite it’s young age, Cancer Research UK is at the forefront of UK cancer charities and its popularity grows day by day.
This charity is widely respected, having been classed as a ‘health information provider’ by the UK’s National Health Service, and having spent £315,000,000 on research into cancer in 2007.
The money raised by Cancer Research UK is used in a wide variety of cancer-related areas, the main focus being the support of researchers, their work on the biological make-up of cancerous cells and what works best at killing them. A lot of research is carried out to find suitable anti-cancer drugs and how to minimise their side effects and finally, funding is used for clinical trials of these new drugs.
The Race for Life began in 1994 as a female only fundraising event for cancer research. It has since grown to the largest women-only charity event and involves women getting sponsored by friends, family and colleagues and actually anyone, to run or walk a marathon in their local area during the months of May, June and July. 665,000 women took part in Races for Life all over the UK in 2007 alone.
Cancer Research UK integrates itself into the public’s daily life as much as possible and as a result raises awareness. The charity does this by having around 600 charity shops in the UK with hundreds of retail volunteers and being supported by a huge number of celebrities including Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Madonna and Westlife.
Helping Cancer Research can be carried out in a variety of ways, with the most popular being voluntary donations of £2 or more each month by direct debit. Other ways to give to this charity include leaving a sum of money in your will, asking loved ones to donate money rather than giving you wedding, anniversary or birthday gifts, and fundraising activities (e.g. Race for Life).
Filed under: Disease Charities