Charity

ICR supporters Marco Nannini, John Falla and Jerry Freeman are joining forces in their support of the ICR by taking part in OSTAR 2009 which starts on 25 May 2009.
Marco, John and Jerry will cross (separately) the inhospitable North Atlantic, sailing against the prevailing wind and currents.

OSTAR is by far one of the toughest yacht races for amateur sailors and the ICR is delighted that all three have chosen to support the ICR in this way.

Originally from Torino, Italy and who is now working in investment banking in London, is an on-going supporter and has already raised thousands of pounds through other sailing challenges such as bluQube Solo 1000, which is a qualifying race for OSTAR. Marco hopes to raise £50,000 for research and his employer has pledged to donate £10,000 if he completes the challenge.

Marco is passionate about sailing and this is a perfect way to challenge his ability as a sailor as well as aiding a very good cause.

To make a donation visit www.justgiving.com/ostar2009

John Falla is supporting the ICR through OSTAR 2009 to satisfy a long-held desire to compete in such a race and to raise as much money as possible (target is £50,000) for cancer research, a subject dear to John’s heart.

John will be sailing in ‘Banjaard’ and is currently preparing her for the race and was inspired to take part in Ostar after meeting some sailing legends.

To make a donation visit www.justgiving.com/2009ostar

Jerry Freeman, founding member of Petit Bateau and a director of Racing at Petit Bateau, who has already completed two OSTARs as well as a host of other long distance shorthanded races, is racing Mary Falk’s QII in OSTAR 2009. QII is the boat in which Mary created a new monohull record (still unbroken) for the 35 foot class in OSTAR 1996.

Mary has already raised over £90,000 for the ICR through her singlehanded racing in QII since completing her own treatment for breast cancer in 2006. Mary, who is temporarily unable to sail herself with a broken leg resulting from a skiing accident, has lent QII to Jerry for OSTAR 2009 for him to beat her class record and to help her in reaching her £100,000 target for the ICR.

To make a donation visit www.justgiving.com/maryfalk

From humble beginnings 100 years ago as a small laboratory within what would become the Royal Marsden Hospital the ICR is now one of the top cancer research organisations in the world and the most prolific in Europe.

Its achievements in its 100 years existence are legion. It was the ICR that discovered the suspected link between smoking and cancer. It was the ICR that first recognised that all cancers are genetic. And it is the ICR that is now identifying hundreds of genes that contribute to the development of cancer.

The ICR achieves all this on just a quarter, on average, of the budget of similar research organisations. It is one of the world’s most cost effective cancer research organisations with more than 95p in every £1 going directly into research.

The ICR still works in partnership with the Royal Marsden Hospital which means that the results of its research reach patients more quickly than those of any other organisation in Europe.

Some of the ICR's achievements

ICR discovered that the basic cause of cancer is DNA malfunction.

ICR have taken
10 drugs to clinical trial in the past 10 years, an achievement unmatched anywhere in the world.

ICR established the Everyman Campaign for research and
funding into male cancer and set up Europe’s first and only
centre dedicated to research into male cancer – The Everyman Centre.

ICR discovered and developed abiraterone, a drug showing promising results in treating men with advanced and
aggressive prostate cancer; it is also being investigated as a possible treatment for breast cancer.

ICR discovered that the cancer gene, E2F3, is an important predictor of aggressiveness in both prostate and bladder cancer, allowing for more effective, tailor-made treatments
for patients.

ICR Identified that cancer stem cells contribute to causing
the most common form of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

For more information visit www.icr.ac.uk.