Sponsored by Worldwide Cancer Research
Leaving a gift in your Will to Worldwide
Cancer Research will help fund pioneering new research into cancer that may one day put an end to the suffering this devastating disease causes.
No life should be cut short by cancer, yet there are still far too many people every year who have to say goodbye to their loved ones too soon.
That is why funding research into new cures is so crucial. By leaving a legacy to Worldwide Cancer Research in your Will, you could play an instrumental role in saving lives in the future.
Here, we explain what Worldwide Cancer Research does, and how to go about leaving a gift in your Will that could light the way to more life-saving treatments.
Find out more about leaving a gift in your Will to Worldwide Cancer Research here.
Who are Worldwide Cancer Research?
Cancer will affect one in two of us in our lifetime, with cancer diagnoses worldwide predicted to almost double by 2040. Research into cancer cures has taken huge strides towards improving long-term survival rates for many types of cancer, but some remain far more challenging to prevent, diagnose and treat.
Worldwide Cancer Research is the only UK-based charity exclusively funding discovery research into any type of cancer, anywhere in the world, with the aim of finding new cancer cures.
Some of the charity’s recent research projects include new targeted treatments to help tackle tough to treat brain cancers, researching the early signs of oesophageal cancer to improve cancer diagnosis, and finding ways to stop cancer from becoming resistant to chemotherapy.
To secure funding from Worldwide Cancer Research, researchers from around the world propose their innovative research ideas and outline what they hope to achieve from them. They provide detailed plans of the research they want to conduct, as well as the costs involved. The charity’s expert Scientific Advisory Committee then ranks the applications, and selects the very best projects to fund – only those with the greatest potential to make an impact are selected.
Since being founded in 1979, Worldwide Cancer Research has invested more than £200 million in almost 2,000 research projects across 35 countries around the world. For example, one recent project has uncovered a new way to explore the complex links between the microbiome (the collection of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in our bodies) and bowel cancer. This could reveal ways to diagnose bowel cancer sooner, which would help treatment start earlier and be more likely to succeed.
Basil’s story
Basil, 102, who underwent treatment for melanoma in 2013, has chosen to leave a gift in his Will to Worldwide Cancer Research to help start new cancer cures.
A keen tennis player, Basil has been a staunch supporter of Worldwide Cancer Research for several years. “I hope they can eradicate cancer, so there are no more cancer patients in the world,” he said. “That would be something! It’s why I’ve left a gift in my Will to support Worldwide Cancer Research. Cancer must be stopped.”
Basil’s own cancer diagnosis came in 2013, after someone at his tennis club urged him to get a black spot on his face checked out. After undergoing surgery to have the melanoma removed, Basil thankfully didn’t have to go through chemotherapy or radiotherapy. He believes that his recovery was helped by his active lifestyle, and he was given the all-clear in 2020.
How you can help
A gift in your Will could make a huge difference to Worldwide Cancer Research. One out of five of the research projects they fund is entirely made possible thanks to the generosity of those who leave a gift in their Will. Even a small donation can have a big impact, as just £37 pays for a whole hour of expert research time.
Thanks to research, cancer survival rates in the UK have doubled since the 1970s. Today. one in two people diagnosed with cancer are now expected to survive for 10 or more years after their diagnosis. However, Worldwide Cancer Research wants to do more, and help bring about a day where no life is cut short by cancer. They want to fund four times the volume of research by 2030 to start new cancer cures to help stop cancer.
Your support could be instrumental in finding the next big cancer breakthrough. You can join this global effort to stop cancer, so no one has to say goodbye to a loved one too soon.
You can find out more about leaving a gift in your Will to Worldwide Cancer Research here.