Ten years ago, a routine health check identified an unwelcome lump in my bladder. One bout of surgery later, and I was presented with a test tube containing a fuzzy pink pea, apparently malignant. In response to my bewilderment, the surgeon happily suggested "Think of it this way...you had cancer, and now you don't".
It took another two recurrences, two more bouts of surgery, 18 months of immuno-therapy, and countless check-ups to reach a point of being several years cancer-free.
So I'm lucky. Too many people I know have not been so fortunate, including one of my closest friends who died ten years ago this October.
I survived cancer due to the research into tuberculosis, of all things, conducted by a relatively obscure Frenchman, and his lovely assistant (who was actually a vet?!), in the 1920's. Somewhere along the way, someone else discovered that this same treatment also works on bladder cancer. Cancer Research UK happily admit "We are not quite sure how BCG works for bladder cancer...". (And I love that: "We don't know why...but sod it, let's run with it anyway").
But it does work and it certainly worked for me. It's that kind of research that has kept me alive, and it's that kind of research for which I'm asking for your money.
So dig deep, help me to help others, and I'll do my damnedest to run as fast as I possibly can. And with a little luck I may not make a complete arse of myself in the process.
