Malignant Melanoma Research Fund - Factor 50 Fundraisers

Welcome to our website. We hope you will find the site useful and spend time browsing the various areas. The Factor 50 Fundraising Group was born in the Autumn of 2007.

One of our fundraisers had a friend with Malignant Melanoma, (a form of skin cancer) and having seen the struggle he faced, she wanted to try and help create some awareness of the disease, and also raise some much needed funds.

Dr Paul Lorigan, Lecturer in Medical Oncology at the Christie Hospital told us that there was a particular trial that he wanted to bring to the UK, the technology for which is currently only available in the USA. With this in mind we started Factor 50 and we hope that through all our efforts, the melanoma team can develop and evaluate this new treatment for the benefit of all patients with melanoma.  Dr Lorigan insists that keeping the status quo for melanoma treatment is not an option.  We need to learn to prevent it developing in the first instance, prevent it recurring once it has been removed, and treat it effectively if it does recur.

We are in close contact with the research team at the Christie Hospital and they provide us with updates in relation to the work they are carrying out into research surrounding Malignant Melanoma.   The most recent update regarding immunotherapy at the Christie Hospital is detailed in Ongoing Research.

There are various fundraising events going on throughout the coming months and each individual/group has their own page. Please log on to their pages, have a look at the great efforts that are being made and if you are sponsoring them, follow the links to the online donations.

We hope that through our efforts we can make a difference to people suffering from Malignant Melanoma, raise awareness of the importance of skin care and protection in the sun.

For all enquiries regarding our work, you can email us on factor50enquiries@googlemail.com Let us have details of your enquiry and we will do our best to get back to you within 24 hours.

There are several ways in which you can support Factor 50. As well as the fundraising events, there are sponsorship packages available. Email us or speak to Gill - 07930 375360.

Thank you

Gill Nuttall & Jenny Wright

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Claire Louise Cunningham 1973 - 2008__

Claire's husband Peter, contacted Factor 50 when his wife was being treated by Dr Lorigan.   Sadly, Claire passed away on 26 July 2008, leaving her husband and two sons, Alex and Toby.

Peter and Claire's family have been fundraising on behalf of Factor 50 and we are very grateful for all their efforts.

http://www.midlandcircuit.co.uk/categories/NEWS/In-Memoriam/

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ERNIE COOKSEY 11 June 1980 - 2 July 2008

Sadly, young Ernie Cooksey who was also a sufferer of Malignant Melanoma, lost his battle against the disease on 2 July 2008.    Ernie leaves his young partner Louise, who gave birth to their little girl on 27 July, and of course his loving family and friends.   Ernie was treated by Dr Lorigan and was a great supporter of the work we are doing at Factor 50. He was a lovely character and will be very sadly missed.    To donate to Factor 50 and in Ernie's memory click here

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The Melanoma Genetics Consortium (GenoMEL) needs 10,000 people to complete a questionnaire on sun-related behaviour. GenoMEL is an international research consortium coordinated by the University of Leeds. The questionnaire takes about 20 to 30 minutes to complete. For more details, go to www.genomel.org