World first: PCRF launches national pancreas tissue bank In early 2016, we proudly launched the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank, a facility deemed so important to tackling pancreatic cancer that it featured on the BBC’s flagship BBC News at Six.

The Tissue Bank brings together surgeons, pathologists, oncologists, researchers and database experts to co-ordinate a nationwide effort to provide a central resource of patients’ tumour tissue, blood and urine – the materials that researchers need to conduct their research. Funded with £2 million from PCRF, it will accelerate research to improve survival for pancreatic cancer patients.

The initial key NHS partners in London, Southampton, Leicester, Oxford and Swansea are renowned for their expertise in treating pancreatic diseases and will act as tissue collection centres for consenting patients undergoing surgery or biopsy. Discussions with further hospitals are already underway.

Ultimately, researchers from other countries will be able to apply for tissue. Results from all projects using samples will be shared with pancreatic cancer researchers globally to inform and underpin their own research. The Tissue Bank will use and develop new techniques and technologies, ensuring that it remains at the leading edge of research.

The Tissue Bank is based at Barts Cancer Institute (BCI) in London. BCI Director Professor Nick Lemoine said: “This may well be the most important development in resourcing UK pancreatic cancer research in a generation, and we’re extremely proud to be involved.”

You can read more about the Tissue Bank and patients who have already donated tissue on our website: www.pcrf.org.uk

Annual Issue No. 12Annual Issue No. 12Annual Issue No. 12 Autumn 2016 Autumn 2016 www.pcrf.org.ukwww.pcrf.org.uk

PCRF News

Prof Hemant Kocher, Barts Cancer Institute, who heads the Tissue Bank

Reg. Charity No. 1155322

Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund

Researching the cure

Leading the charge – £8m on research! 2016 will go down in the charity’s history as one of the most important years to date.

If you’ve ever wondered how your fundraising contributes to the ‘bigger picture’, not only have you enabled us to spend £1million on new research projects again (see p2), we’ve also been able to launch the £2million Tissue Bank. This is a phenomenal achievement.

On page 3, we’ve broken down expenditure so you can see how we prioritise spending on activities that will make a difference. Not all of these will generate news headlines like the Tissue Bank launch, but be assured that everything we do has been chosen for its potential impact in tackling pancreatic cancer.

Together, we’ve now funded forty research projects worth over £6million and committed a further £2million to the Tissue Bank. To all our supporters: you’ve made this possible. Thank you!

Maggie Blanks Founder

DID YOU KNOW?JUST UNDER

OF OUR 2015 SPEND WENT TO FUND RESEARCHSee page 3 for more details

80%

Charity News www.pcrf.org.uk

Clinical trials newsResearch funded by PCRF has led to a Phase 1 clinical trial to investigate improved treatment in patients.

Professor Hemant Kocher leads the STARPAC trial to confirm whether using high doses of a form of vitamin A could help make chemotherapy more effective in treating pancreatic cancer patients. The combination treatment approach is informed by his two PCRF-funded projects. The trial is funded by the Medical Research Council with support from a pharmaceutical company.

Says PCRF’s Maggie Blanks: “It’s very rewarding to know we’ve played a crucial part in developing the treatment and we’re excited to hear about the trial results.”

If you don’t want to receive future newsletters, please let us know – info@pcrf.org.uk or 020 8360 1119

With grant applications rising year on year, our new batch of research projects starting in 2016 come from a wider spread of universities than ever before, including our first project in Wales. This new funding round brings the number of projects funded to forty, worth over £6.2 million.

Dr Bart Cornelissen University of Oxford The team has developed an imaging agent that attaches to a protein expressed in the disease’s

early stages. They will refine the agent so that the protein can be detected and monitored using hospital PET scanners.

Professor Venkat Kanamarlapudi Swansea University The team has a drug compound that attaches to a protein on the surface of pancreatic cancer cells,

causing them to die. They will test this on human tissue samples and combine it with existing drugs to maximise its effect.

Dr Eithne Costello University of Liverpool Pancreatic cancer cells have high levels of a protective protein called Nrf2, which helps them become

resistant to chemotherapy. This project will look for ways to block Nrf2 so cancer drugs can work better.

Dr Fieke Froeling Imperial College London Focusing on ‘epigenetics’ – changes in DNA that switch genes on and off and lead to cancer – the team

will profile pancreatic tumours to find biomarkers to predict which patients will respond to drugs being developed to combat epigenetic changes.

Dr Claus Jorgensen University of Manchester Dr Jorgensen has found that blocking an enzyme in hijacked cells around pancreatic cancer

tumours reverts them to their normal state. The team aims to interfere with this enzyme to make tumour cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy.

Dr Patricia Sancho Bart’s Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London Cancer stem cells help cancer to return, even after chemotherapy.

This project will find ways to attack their two main energy sources at the same time and eliminate the cancer stem cells for good.

Hat-trick! £1m research funded for third year running

If you don’t want to receive future newsletters, please let us know – info@pcrf.org.uk or 020 8360 1119

We welcomed 150 people to the 2015 Supporters Conference in central London in November, many of whom were attending for the first time.

Delegates heard exciting research updates directly from eight PCRF-funded researchers,

and the day closed with a lively Q&A session. Videos of the researcher presentations can be found on our website www.pcrf.org.uk.

A specially arranged collection point allowed supporters to donate blood and urine as healthy control samples to the Tissue Bank if they wished – yet another way that our supporters directly contribute to research. The response was amazing, and the collection team worked until 3am to process and store all the samples!

“We were so overwhelmed emotionally as well as capacity-wise by the generosity of your supporters that we cannot thank you enough,” said Professor Hemant Kocher, who heads the Tissue Bank.

“It was a great day and underlined the warmth, friendship and commitment that exists within the PCRF supporter community,” said CEO Maggie Blanks.

The next Supporters Conference will be autumn 2017. Date to be confirmed.

2015 Supporters Conference: the biggest yet!

Fundraising News www.pcrf.org.uk

A huge thank you to all our supporters who made the past year such a successful one for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. Here are just a few of the fundraising stories.

Charity of the Year thanksWe’re proud and grateful to have been chosen as Charity of the Year for the following organisations: Raffingers Chartered Accountants; Gressingham Foods; Runnymede Borough Council; NewRiver Retail and Inner Wheel GB & Ireland (District 9). And we’re especially proud to be Charity of the Year for a second year for Northwood Estate and Lettings Agents.

Staff and members across them all have been fundraising in all sorts of tasty, creative, exhausting – and sometimes muddy – ways in tribute to friends and colleagues lost to pancreatic cancer.

Why not ask your employer to make us their Charity of the Year, or ask if they can match your fundraising for us?

My husband Neil started to get stomach pains and feel a bit down in October 2010. We paid numerous visits to the GP and to the hospital, ruling out thing like ulcers, gall stones etc. It wasn’t until the 24th of July 2011 that I had a call from the hospital trying to contact Neil for him to go in for further test as a result of the findings from an MRI scan.

One week later we were told the shattering news that he had pancreatic cancer. A week later he had stents placed in his liver to ease the pain and stop the jaundice. It was then that I spoke to the support nurse and she confirmed my worst fears, that this “wasn’t going away”.

Neil was 45 years old and our sons were 10 and one at the time. He was the bravest person I have ever known, because although by this point he was in a lot of pain, he never once complained. He passed away on the 10th of September 2011, five days after our

18th wedding anniversary and three days after our son’s second birthday. As you can imagine and as many of you well know, it was, and still is, devastating.

While chatting to Jo, our support nurse, she told us about the amazing work that PCRF do. I read up about the charity and felt that its aim

of more funding for research was definitely something I could contribute towards. So our charity journey began.

Nearly five years later I have the amazing support of family and friends, and our boys have a very positive influence from the fundraising that we do. I know their dad would be very proud. We have organised Bake & Share events, Ladies’ Pamper Days and Neil’s annual charity buffet evenings.

My friend has done a tandem skydive; and I was a volunteer at a 24-hour charity auction in 2013 led by antiques expert James Lewis for PCRF and other charities, which was an amazing experience.

To date, we have raised £28,500. I hope to hit £30,000 by the end of 2016. I am very grateful for what PCRF do and hopefully one day people will not have to suffer loss from this awful disease.

Why I support PCRF Supporter Sarah Flint talks about her involvement with the charity

Neil Flint with his sons William and Tom

Carrie Barrett of Gressingham Foods with family & friends at their sponsored walk & Fun Day

Raffingers Chartered Accountants loving the mud

NewRiver Retail cyclists

How we use the money you raiseWe work to minimise costs of running the charity so that we can dedicate as much of the income as possible directly to research activities. The chart shows the breakdown.

Support for fundraising includes cost of events, advertising + PR and printing, postage + stationery. Governance and overheads includes auditors’ fees, legal expenses, and telephone, computing and accountancy costs. Trading to raise funds includes costs associated with selling the charity’s merchandise.

You can see our accounts in detail on the Charity Commission website: www.charitycommission.gov.uk

79% Research activities

2% Trading to raise funds

15% Support for fundraising

2% Governance and overheads

2% Salaries

Annual expenditure in 2015 £1,331, 867

Youth no bar to success Congratulations to 5-yr-old Andie Parker, (pictured top) who completed a 5k event with her mum Sarah for us – a fantastic achievement both!

Brothers Ellis (9) and Oliver (8) Bonner (pictured middle) raised a magnificent £300 at a car boot sale with big sister Sabrina in memory of their dad, Neil Bonner. Brilliant work – thank you so much!

Tamzin Mullins, aged 10, (pictured bottom) swam 100 lengths of her local pool in just over one hour, raising a superb £465 in memory of her grandad. Well done, Tamzin!

Fundraising & Raising Awareness www.pcrf.org.uk

Name

Address

Postcode

Telephone

Email

Keeping in contact via email helps us to keep costs down.

Please make cheques payable to Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund

Please complete this form on both sides in block capitals and return to: Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund P. O. Box 47432, London N21 1XP

I’d like to donate to PCRF

OARSOME SUPPORT They did it! On 13 August 2016, an 11-strong crew of Row Cornwall fundraisers completed their 8-day, 200 mile adventure to row around the coast of Cornwall – an incredible achievement for a team who had no real rowing experience when they set themselves the challenge!

The exhausted men were met in Fowey harbour by a cheering crowd of friends, family and PCRF’s Maggie Blanks, and popped champagne to celebrate the culmination of a year-long fundraising campaign.

Starting 2016 with a freezing cold New Year’s Day dip, the team embarked on a relentless series of events to raise funds and awareness – from auctions, bingo nights and family fun days, to gruelling cycle challenges and even launching themselves across flooded quarries on zip wires – and all of this whilst training hard for their row. The team chose PCRF in honour of family and friends affected by the disease and have raised more than double their target of £10,000 through sheer hard work and infectious enthusiasm.

Birmingham International Airport security guard Maxine Keen decided to shave her hair off for PCRF after her father, Alan, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“I knew I wanted to shave my head because the family always joked with dad about his own lack of hair and I knew it would make him laugh,” she said.

But sadly Alan died before Maxine’s fundraiser. Said Maxine, “We were aware the outlook was bleak when he was diagnosed, but the shock of losing him in just a matter of weeks was devastating.”Maxine took collecting buckets to the departure lounge, where generous passengers helped her reach her total of almost £3,000.

TEAM PCRF Running for researchApril 2016 saw us field 27 runners in the Virgin London Marathon. We were relieved to count them all back in, clutching their medals, ecstatic but exhausted!

Huge thanks to the hundreds of supporters who’ve taken part in local fun runs, 10ks, half marathons and more this year. Your determination – and fitness levels – are truly inspiring.

If you’re interested in running for PCRF, future events are listed on page 6.

Maxine braves the shave

✁

I would like to make a donation to PCRF and enclose a cheque for

£ (payable to Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund).

I am a UK taxpayer and would like to Gift Aid my donation.

I understand I must have paid enough Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax to cover the amount that all charities and CASCs I donate to will reclaim for the relevant tax year, and that Council tax and VAT do not count. I understand the charity will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 I have donated.

Signature:

Date:

Tick the box if you would like us to send you a receipt.

If you’d like to set up a regular donation, please email us at admin@pcrf.org.uk or phone 020 8360 1119

Alternatively, you can donate with a credit or debit card by phoning us at 020 8360 1119 or via the website.

Tick this box if you would like to receive future newsletters

We don’t pass your details on to any other organisations. Registered Charity No. 1155322

Support us throughYou can donate 10% – 100% of your sale price to PCRF whenever you sell an item on eBay. You’ll also receive fee credits whenever you sell an item, equal to the percentage donated. So, if you donate 50% of your selling price to PCRF, eBay will waive 50% of your fees.

Bangers for CashYour old car could raise money for cutting-edge research into defeating pancreatic cancer.Giveacar is a free and efficient service that allows you to donate your old or unwanted vehicle to PCRF. They can arrange to have your vehicle picked up at a time to suit you. Your car will then be scrapped in an environmentally friendly way, or sold at auction, and a donation made to the charity based on the value of the scrap or the auction price. Even if the banger is scrapped, it still nets the charity between £40 and £160.

To donate your scrap car to PCRF, call Giveacar on 020 7736 4242 and quote Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund as your chosen charity.

For for further details about the scheme, see http://giveacar.co.uk

Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund PO Box 47432, London, N21 1XP020 8360 1119www.pcrf.org.uk | info@pcrf.org.uk

www.facebook.com/PancreaticCancerResearchFund

@PanCanResearch

Ways to Help

Raise awareness with PCRF merchandiseYou can support PCRF and raise awareness with our range of merchandise – including T-shirts, pin badges and wristbands. See our online shop for more details.

Thinking of organising your own event?If you’re thinking about doing a fundraising event, please let us know.We’re keen to help make your event a success and can provide balloons, flyers, pin badges, collecting tins, t-shirts or lend a banner. In the past, supporters have organised a whole range of different events, including:

• coffee mornings• pub quizzes

• garden parties• musical evenings

• charity balls• sports events

Fund research when you shop online!Yes, it’s true! When you shop online you can generate funds for PCRF at no extra cost to you. Give as you Live is a shopping and price comparison website with a heart. You can shop for products from thousands of leading online retailers; use their price comparison tool to ensure you get the best price and even save money by using the exclusive offers and deals available on the site.

Simply shop online with Give as you Live at your favourite retailers, including John Lewis, Amazon and Tesco, and a percentage of your spend will be donated to us, at no extra cost.

Visit www.giveasyoulive.com and select Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund when you sign up.

www.pcrf.org.uk

There are many organised activities that you can get involved in to raise money for PCRF. Here are just a few examples:

For information on these events, check our website, email admin@pcrf.org.uk or ring 020 8360 1119.

New events get added throughout the year, so keep checking the website.

Walking

Isle of Wight Challenge 29–30 April 2017 Walk, jog or run it. 25k, 50k or 100kJust Walk 13 May 2017 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k or 60k routes to choose from on the South Downs, West SussexLondon2Brighton Challenge 27–28 May 2017 Walk, jog or run it. 100kHadrian’s Wall Weekend 16–18 June/8–10 September 2017Trekfest The Beacons June 2017 100k,75k,50k or 25kBen Nevis Weekend Trek 23–25 June/ 29 September–1 October 2017Cotswold Way Challenge 1–2 July 2017 Walk, jog or run it. 100k or 50k optionsTrekfest The Peaks September 2017 54 miles, 27 miles or 13 milesThames Path Challenge September 2017 Walk, jog or run it. 25k, 50k or 100k

Future Events www.pcrf.org.uk

If you don’t want to receive future newsletters, please let us know – info@pcrf.org.uk or 020 8360 1119

Run for Research

Gt. Edinburgh Run 23 April 2017Brighton Marathon 9 April 2017Gt. Ireland Run 9 April 2017London Marathon 23 April 2017Belfast City Marathon 1 May 2017Stirling Scottish Marathon 21 May 2017Gt Manchester Run 28 May 2017Vitality London 10,000 29 May 2017British 10k London Run July 2017Gt. North Run September 2017Gt. Yorkshire Run September 2017Gt. South Run October 2017Royal Parks Half Marathon October 2017Gt. Birmingham Run October 2017Gt. Scottish Run October 2017

Swimming

Gt. North Swim 9–11 June 2017 WindermereGt. East Swim June 2017 Alton WaterGt. Manchester Swim July 2017 SalfordGt Newham London Swim August 2017 Royal Victoria DockGt. Scottish Swim August 2017 Loch Lomond

Cycling

Nightrider London 10–11 June 2017Nightrider Bristol TBCNightrider Liverpool TBCEdinburgh Night Ride 17–18 June 2017Prudential RideLondon–Surrey 30 July 2017

Tandem Skydive

An unforgettable experience. Raise a minimum sponsorship of £395 (£450 in Scotland and Northern Ireland) and you jump for free!

FANCY A BIGGER CHALLENGE?If you feel you’re ready for a bigger challenge, there are plenty of overseas challenges to choose from. Here are just a few:

London to Paris cycle

Gt. Wall of China trek

Climb Kilimanjaro

Inca Trail, Peru trek

Death Valley Cycle

Himalaya Trek

Doing it for DadBromsgrove police officer Stu Mackenzie raised £2,500 by completing the Inca Trail, Peru in memory of his dad Michael, who died aged 53.

Stu says: “Dad was an award-winning photographer and was really well-known in our local community. He always loved travelling and exploring new countries with his camera and we planned to one day travel together to see the wonders of the world – Machu Picchu was on the list. We never got the chance.

“As a teenager, losing my dad was devastating, and it really hit home when I

became a dad myself so I did the Inca Trail for him. It was a brilliant and amazing experience, and could only have been bettered if he was with me, like we’d planned.”