Do you feel strongly enough about the lack of support for a particular area of research to do something about it? Personal experience led Maggie Blanks to set up the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and she shares her tips on how to set up a research charity.
Shortly after my husband Alan died from pancreatic cancer in May 2003, just three months after we married, the anger kicked in. Why does a disease with a 97 per cent mortality rate—the worst of any common cancer—receive just 1 per cent of national research funding? How can the UK’s fifth biggest cancer killer be so overlooked and underfunded when its survival rates have barely improved in more than 40 years?
When I found that there were no national charities raising funds specifically for pancreatic cancer research, I realised that if I wanted change, I was going to have to fill this gap myself. I don’t remember feeling any apprehension, I just got on with it.
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