Carnforth masons donate £1k to cancer charity study
The Carnforth branch of the masonic Red Cross of Constantine Kenlis Conclave 273 has donated £1,000 to Rosemere Cancer Foundation.
The charity was nominated to be the beneficiary of funds collected at its member meetings over the past year by conclave leader Frank Heath.
Mr Heath and his wife Tricia, along with other family members, began fundraising for Rosemere Cancer Foundation in 2021 following the December 2020 diagnosis of their late son Guy with a very rare and very aggressive form of bladder cancer.
Sadly, Guy, a married dad-of-two, passed away in August 2022 aged just 49.
Guy was treated at Rosemere Cancer Centre, Lancashire and south Cumbria’s regional specialist cancer treatment and radiotherapy centre at the Royal Preston Hospital.
His oncologist, Prof Alison Birtle, became a friend not to just Guy but to his entire family.
Prof Birtle met up with Mr Heath to accept the conclave’s donation on behalf of Rosemere Cancer Foundation.
The charity had already agreed the funds could go towards a study Prof Birtle is involved in. The study is exploring a new technology called LAMP (Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification). If results go as hoped, LAMP may have the potential to enable a possible future prostate cancer screening programme.
Mr Heath said: “As a family, we believe the treatment Guy received from Prof Birtle gave him an extra two and a half years of life. I have many friends who have had to go to Rosemere Cancer Centre after being diagnosed with prostate cancer so Prof Birtle’s study is important to me at a personal level and I am delighted that my position as conclave leader enabled me to choose the charity the conclave supported with its latest donation.”
Sue Swire, fundraising manager for Rosemere Cancer Foundation, said: “Our thanks to Mr Heath and all Kenlis Conclave members for this wonderful donation. I know Prof Birtle has very high hopes for the LAMP study. The study is early stage but potentially, it could lead to many lives being saved.”
Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients from throughout Lancashire and south Cumbria being treated not just at Rosemere Cancer Centre but also at another eight local hospital cancer units across the two counties, including that at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.