2022: A Year in Review

As we approach the end of 2022, we have the opportunity to reflect on and celebrate all that the year has held.

Millions of pounds of funding was announced for five new pioneering studies and trials, and volunteers and fundraisers got stuck into opportunities that had been delayed due to the pandemic, showing tireless dedication to raising vital funds for people with cancer.

Thanks to you, more than 250,000 people are now benefitting from new and innovative treatments as they take part in pioneering research. More than 750 experts and cancer champions from across the country are involved in these programmes, bringing expertise and knowledge to the region.

Moving into 2023, we will continue to save lives in Yorkshire together.

At the start of the year, Yorkshire Cancer Research teamed up with Kirklees Council to offer vaping devices to adults who smoke to help them quit for good.

Since then, 399 people have chosen to use a vaping product through the pilot project, and 302 (76%) have successfully quit smoking for four weeks. A quarter of these people are expected to become life-long quitters, significantly reducing their risk of developing lung cancer.

We are now planning to use the learning and recommendations from the Kirklees pilot to fund similar vaping programmes across Yorkshire.

Active Together, a pioneering exercise programme funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research, welcomed its first patients in February.

The programme, delivered by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Hallam University, supports people with cancer by providing physical activity, nutritional and psychological support.

It is expected to improve recovery rates and save lives by reducing the likelihood of cancer returning.

Since launching, Active Together has supported more than 200 people with upper gastrointestinal (GI), colorectal and lung cancer from across South Yorkshire.

An international bowel cancer clinical trial funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research opened to people with cancer from across Yorkshire in March.

Led by researchers at the University of Leeds and the University of Birmingham, ‘FOxTROT’ is exploring whether giving specific groups of patients a course of chemotherapy before surgery can help improve survival rates.

Dr Jenny Seligmann, chief investigator of the trials and consultant medical oncologist at the University of Leeds said: “The new trials will save lives and improve the experience of patients in Yorkshire. As well as providing an opportunity to take part in research, which is known to improve survival rates, the trial will help bring gold-standard treatment to participating hospitals.”

A new HPV awareness campaign went live at the beginning of March to mark International HPV Awareness Day.

HPV Explained aims to increase awareness of the facts and reduce stigma around the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

The campaign features experts such as Bradford GP and author, Dr Amir Khan, Cancer Behavioural Scientist, Dr Jo Waller and, Nurse Colposcopist, Sarah Bolton.

As official charity partner of Leeds United, we gave a special group of children and young people affected by cancer a surprise of a lifetime.

First team players Kalvin Phillips, Raphinha, and Joe Gelhardt made a special appearance as the group posed for a pitch side photograph with their families.

The tour was part of activity run by Yorkshire Cancer Research throughout the season, which included offering Leeds United fans affected by cancer the chance to win hospitality tickets to matches.

In May, the charity announced £7.3 million in new funding for cancer research and services across the region.

Five pioneering studies and clinical trials are being brought to the region and more than 10,000 people in Yorkshire will have the opportunity to take part.

The trials are investigating genetic testing for women, improving radiotherapy for people with prostate cancer, the benefits of exercise for reducing the risk of cancer coming back, the effectiveness of at home cervical screening kits, and new ways to encourage people to take part in screening.

The month also saw Yorkshire get moving as part of Step Out for Yorkshire, which encouraged people to run, walk or cycle throughout the month to help prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer in the region.

More than 600 people took part, raising £45,000 for life-saving research.

Louise Johnson, who cycled 100 miles just one year after finishing treatment for ovarian cancer, said: “When you’ve had cancer, it’s driven home that without research, and without people raising funds and taking part in charity events, we’d all be in a worse place.”

As 2022 reached the halfway point, a new programme was launched to offer support to people living in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw to take up their cancer screening invitation.

The South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Cancer Champions Programme aims to tackle health inequalities across the region by reducing variation in screening rates within South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw.

The programme is led by South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw ICS Cancer Alliance and Yorkshire Cancer Research, with a goal of increasing the number of people taking up their screening invitation in South Yorkshire by more than 70,000 by 2025.

We called for action on the government’s goal for the country to go smokefree by 2030.

Yorkshire is due to miss the smokefree target by 15 years, so we looked at some new recommendations which could accelerate progress and help prevent 4,500 cancers every year in our region.

The recommendations included raising the minimum legal age of cigarette sales by one year, every year, ensuring a whole generation of children will never be able to buy cigarettes or other tobacco products, and investing an extra £125 million every year in smokefree policies to provide support to help smokers quit.

In August we called for the government to back national Lynch syndrome testing and ensure it becomes available across the country.

We also urged commissioning bodies, hospitals, and Integrated Care Systems to work together to implement NICE guidelines on Lynch syndrome testing.

Lynch syndrome is an inherited genetic condition which increases a person’s risk of developing some types of cancer, including bowel cancer. More than 13,500 people in Yorkshire are estimated to have Lynch syndrome, though fewer than 5% of these will know they have it.

As part of the charity’s Bowel Cancer Improvement Programme, medical teams across Yorkshire have implemented Lynch syndrome testing in line with the NICE guidelines – proving that it can be delivered by the NHS at scale.

Hailed as a “landmark decision in lung cancer care in this country”, September saw the recommendation of a national lung screening programme.

The announcement by the National Screening Committee was informed by evidence from the charity’s Leeds Lung Health Check clinical trial, which has provided scans to thousands of people at high risk of lung cancer.

A lung screening programme will play an important role in reducing health inequalities by saving thousands of lives through finding lung cancer early when it is easier to treat.

The Leeds Lung Health Check programme will now continue until late 2024 following an additional £4.5 million in funding from Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Harrogate’s high street welcomed a new Yorkshire Cancer Research shop in September.

The opening of the shop on Oxford Street followed the introduction of a shop in Pickering earlier in the year, with both being part of the charity’s ambitious strategy to see its name on every high street in Yorkshire.

Shops in Leeds and Skipton are expected to open in spring 2023, and each shop is expected to raise £100,000 for life-saving research in Yorkshire each year.

Thousands of people across Yorkshire started receiving urine self-testing kits in the post as part of a pioneering urine screening trial funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research.

The ‘YORKSURe’ trial is investigating whether urine self-testing kits and community early detection clinics are an effective way of screening for bladder health problems including bladder cancer.Every year in Yorkshire, nearly 1,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer and more than 400 people die from it.

We invited people across the region to take action against inequality in cancer care by supporting our #NoMatterWhere campaign.

#NoMatterWhere asked people to stand with Yorkshire Cancer Research by calling for:

• People to have access to the highest quality cancer care, no matter where you live
• People in Yorkshire to not be at a disadvantage when it comes to cancer survival
• Yorkshire to receive its fair share of cancer research funding to help save more lives.

We called for more investment in early diagnosis after new figures revealed that nearly 5,000 cancers went undiagnosed during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The charity’s analysis of data published by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) shows the number of cancers diagnosed in the region dropped by 13.6% in 2020. This is the lowest number recorded since 2010.

The delays in finding these cancers is expected to result in an increase in deaths from cancer over the coming years because people are likely to be diagnosed at a later stage when treatment options are more limited.

Yorkshire Cancer Research is calling for the government to do more to speed up early diagnoses and ensure people receive the treatment they need.

In December, we have been running our Yorkshire Stars campaign, which invites people affected by cancer to dedicate a star to someone special. Stars are displayed in an online gallery and on a tree in the charity’s Harrogate shop.

To launch the campaign, we projected stars onto buildings across the region to shine a light on the world-leading research we fund across the region.

The Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University and the Allam Medical Building at Hull York Medical School at the University of Hull were all lit up with 600 stars to represent the number of people diagnosed with cancer every week in Yorkshire.

A special thank you to everyone who has volunteered, fundraised, and donated this year. With your help, we are saving lives in Yorkshire.

From completing triathlons to climbing mountains, our supporters have completed a whole range of fundraising activities. Here are a few of our fabulous fundraisers:

• Kate Hirst-Bennet virtually completed the distance of the Great Wall of China in just 25 days in memory of her mother-in-law
• East Yorkshire Costcutter shops raised £4000 for life-saving research in Yorkshire
• Paul Jackson, from Barnsley, cycled across the Netherlands in memory of his dad, raising more than £250
• Schofield Sweeney, a Bradford law firm, took part in the city’s first Super Soapbox Challenge after building their own cart
• Colleagues at Harrogate company Belzona climbed Snowdon at sunrise after choosing Yorkshire Cancer Research as their charity of the year
• Jake Parry raised £1000 after completing the Leeds Half Marathon
• Jane Thornton climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in June, raising funds for pioneering research in memory of her dad
• After taking on the Ironman Challenge along the Adriatic coast in Italy, Phil McMahon raised more than £500
• Ed Raw raised £1,600 after completing the National Three Peaks Challenge in 23 hours.