Now in its second year, the March for Men series organised by Prostate Cancer UK has grown bigger with a further four organised walks in Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham, to add to last year’s sites in Glasgow, Leeds, and London. Each walk is taking place in a beautiful local park with the option to walk circa 2, 5 or 10 kilometres, and participants will be encouraged to fundraise through sponsorship in their own bid to help beat prostate cancer.
Prostate Cancer UK estimates that it needs to fund around £120million of research over the next eight years to reverse a worrying trend that has seen mortality rates steadily rise for prostate cancer patients, even while mortality rates for other cancers, including breast cancer, continue to fall. In order to achieve its ten-year goal to halve the number of expected prostate cancer deaths by 2026 and in a bid to ramp up its fundraising, the charity has today launched a series of March for Men walks to help raise the vital funds needed.
Angela Culhane, Chief Executive of Prostate Cancer UK said: “The wheels are already in motion to turn these statistics around. Plans to create an accurate test fit for use as part of a nationwide prostate cancer screening programme, as well as developing new treatments for advanced prostate cancer are already well underway. However, to achieve these aims we need to increase our investment in research. We’re calling on the nation to sign up to a March for Men this summer to help raise the funds we desperately need to stop prostate cancer being a killer.”
In 2016 Prostate Cancer UK activated plans to improve diagnosis and committed a £2 million pot to fund research to help develop tests which could be used as part of a national screening programme. The charity has also recently dedicated £1.4million to the first phase of its precision medicine research programme which will tailor treatments for men with advanced disease based on the make-up of their individual cancer – a move which has the potential to extend the lives of 9,000 men every year in the UK. Funds raised in 2018 will play a crucial role in taking these flagship projects to the next stage.
Professional dancer and Celebrity Big Brother 2018 housemate, Wayne Sleep, was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2015 and will be leading the London March for Men for the second year running. He commented:
“I was one of the lucky ones – thankfully my prostate cancer was detected early and I received treatment before it spread elsewhere. But thousands of other men are not so lucky, every year prostate cancer continues to claim the lives of nearly 12,000 fathers, brothers, partners, and friends and this must stop.”
Football fans in London and the South East will also have the option to take part in an epic series of convergence marathon marches across the capital on Sunday, 22nd July, all culminating at Wembley. Football’s March for Men will see legions of walkers setting off on the road to Wembley, starting out from four clubs, West Ham United, Millwall, St Albans City and Sutton, and heading to the home of English football. The march to the arch will take in 15 clubs.
To sign up to a local March for Men, the Football March for Men, or to organise your own walk visit: https://www.prostatecanceruk.org/get-involved
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