No mountain high enough for our Development Fund Board

When COVID-19 threatened to derail the teams’ plans to take on a challenge at all this year, they finally managed to take on the formidable Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge on Saturday 26^th September, on a mission to push themselves to the limit and raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

In spite of the global pandemic, their goal remained the same – to collectively raise a transformational £350,000 to fund the final phase of Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Grand Challenge, a research project exploring how immunotherapy can be used as a treatment for pancreatic cancer.

In clear but freezing (& windy!) conditions, the team set off to complete the trek in under 12 hours, socially distanced throughout the entire hike and splitting into two groups of four. One team member, unable to get over to the UK from his state-side location, even took on a three peaks challenge of his own in the beautiful Vermont with friends and family.

We’re thrilled to announce that, not only did the team successfully complete the challenge within 12 hours, in just one week after the event, the Development Board and Friends team have surpassed their £350,000 target and have raised a grand total of £425,000 including Gift Aid!

“As a team, we’ve lost friends, family and colleagues to this devastating disease. I, myself, lost my father to pancreatic cancer. The event has been a long time in the planning, and suffered several re-scheduling of dates, but we are absolutely astounded, inspired and moved by the kindness and generosity of our donors, who have stood with us and elevated our fundraising total beyond what we ever could have imagined during the pandemic. With what has transpired over the last year, and with how threatened cancer research funding is now, we know how vital these funds are to Pancreatic Cancer UK, and we could not be prouder to be a part of this initiative to fund Prof Nick Lemoine, Prof John Marshall and their fantastic team at Barts Cancer Institute.”  Stuart Fletcher, Trustee & Development Fund Board member, Pancreatic Cancer UK

They’ve received donations from over 1,000 people, and have raised a phenomenal amount of awareness for pancreatic cancer at a critical time for the charity. We are honoured to have the support of this incredible team.

Congratulations team on this fantastic achievement!

Find out more about their challenge