THANK YOU AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

A message to all our wonderful supporters from Lady Elsie:

I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who has supported us this year.

From the day my husband set up our charity within the NHS, almost 10 years ago, we’ve been completely reliant on the general public for all our fundraising – and we haven’t been let down.

Lady Elsie and Andrew Robson with Dr Will Innes and the Ophthalmology Clinical Trial Evaluation Suite team

We’re extremely fortunate that people come to us with a huge variety of fundraising ideas, some of them extraordinary, and many of them very touching.

Together, we’ve raised over £11million to find better ways to detect and treat cancer and we’ve achieved so much to help people facing this terrible disease.

This year, we’ve funded new projects including an Ophthalmology Clinical Trial Evaluation Suite, which links with the drug trials in the Sir Bobby Robson Centre.

Mark Robson, Lady Elsie and Dr Simon Bomken

In July, I was proud to meet Dr Simon Bomken, who is now a Sir Bobby Robson Clinical Fellow, having filled the first of four new positions we’re funding at The Wolfson Childhood Cancer Research Centre in Newcastle.

With his colleagues, Dr Bomken is working to advance understanding of how to treat childhood cancers, and developing treatments that are more effective and less toxic.

We’ve also funded the PROSPECT-NE genome sequencing project, which will help develop ‘personal’ cancer treatments, find out how cancer is impacting on patients’ health and determine in advance if side-effects are likely from treatment.

Lady Elsie and Patrons, Alan Shearer and Steve Harper, find out more about PROSPECT-NE

It’s a hugely exciting new area of research and treatment and I know Bob would be fascinated by the possibilities it offers.

None of this would have been possible without your coffee mornings, North Sea rows, concerts, Great North Runs, raffles, children’s triathlons… The commitment and generosity of our fundraisers is astonishing.

I hope every single person who supported us this year feels proud of their efforts. We’re very grateful to each and every one of you.

Next year, we’ll be celebrating our 10th anniversary. Bob would be stunned by how far his team has come in that time. It’s better than winning the World Cup.

Thank you for your support and I wish you a very happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.