Some 21 members of staff from Trafford Council are set to compete in BUPA’s Great Manchester Run this Sunday.
Employees including chief executive, Theresa Grant, corporate director, Helen Jones, and HR director, Joanne Hyde, have volunteered - some in the loosest sense of the term - to race the 10km course as part of the Business Challenge.
Trafford staff are aiming to raise money for a new piece of specialist equipment for The Christie Hospital.
The cutting-edge Cliniporator machine helps patients for whom surgery or radiotherapy is not an option. Obtaining this piece of equipment will mean The Christie is just one of a handful of hospitals across the country able to offer this option to its patients.
‘I am extremely proud of the huge efforts and enthusiasm being shown by each of our team, irrespective of how they were “signed up”,’ Grant said.
One member of the team, Lisa Travis, has a very personal reason for wanting to raise money for The Christie.
‘My 20 year old niece was a patient at the Young Oncology Unit a couple of years ago. She was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma on her 18th birthday in December 2011 and after getting her head around the fact that she had cancer, she had to go through a very intensive round of chemo and radiotherapy treatment, resulting in complete hair loss and bouts of intense sickness,’ Travis said.
‘This type of cancer is one of the most treatable and fortunately for Rachel, the doctors caught it quite early. She was definitely one of the lucky ones and has proved to be a true survivor. Thanks to the fantastic dedication and intensive treatment received from all the team at The Christie, she is now all clear of the cancer two years on. Some of her fellow patients at the Christie were not so lucky and she has unfortunately lost some of the very good friends that she made whilst going through her treatment.
‘Because of this, she continues to raise money herself for the Young Oncology Unit to say thanks for taking such good care of her and she is scheduled to climb Ben Nevis in May 2014, with all the proceeds going to The Christie.’
The Trafford Council team is looking for local support in their efforts to raise money. People can donate here: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/traffordcouncilrunning