Campaign: Liège to London: riding for Guy’s Cancer
I worked on the copy for the whole campaign, along with the Guy's Cancer event and comms staff. Cancer survivors and clinicians rode side by side on an incredible 300 mile bike ride between Liège in Belgium and Guy's Cancer in London in 2019. As part of my role, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Saunders, the man who came up with the idea, and clinicians including Dr Mark Ashworth who has also been treated for cancer. It was an extraordinary physical feat, and highlighted the importance of scientific research in cancer treatment.
What is the Liège to London bike ride?
The Liège to London Bike Ride is a 300-mile, three-day cycle from the Belgian City of Liège to the Cancer Centre at Guy’s, London, between 19 - 21 September 2019.
It is the brainchild of cancer survivor Gary Saunders, who participated in a previous fundraising cycle challenge from Land’s End to London in 2016.
This time, the road is even longer. The ride is both a celebration of survivorship and an opportunity to raise funds for vital research and treatment. Monies raised will help more people who are diagnosed with urological cancers such as prostate, testicular, kidney and bladder cancer.
What will the money fund?
The money raised from Liège to London will fund further scientific research and clinical treatment in relation to urological cancers including developing immunotherapy. This is a type of treatment that involves taking medicines that encourage the immune system to fight cancer, infections, and other diseases.
In urology, it is effective for kidney, bladder and prostate cancers.
But not all patients respond to this type of treatment, so Guy’s Cancer researchers will look at finding ways of predicting who will respond to immunotherapy, find new related treatment options for patients who do not currently respond, and enhance immunotherapy responses while reducing side effects.
Another research project will investigate whether directing chemotherapy to the bladder can reduce the number of patients developing bladder cancer after receiving treatment for a similar cancer in the kidney.