A dedicated cancer doctor from The Christie is going above and beyond his duty of patient care, by taking part in The Great North Run to fundraise for cancer treatments and research for his patients.
This Sunday 10th September Professor Omer Aziz will be running alongside Sir Mo Farah, and 60,000 other runners, in the world’s largest half marathon.
Prof Aziz is taking part in The Great North Run to raise vital research funds for patients with tumours that have spread to the lining of the abdomen (peritoneum). This happens for a range of cancers including colon, ovarian, and appendix cancers and around 30% of patients with these tumour types already have this type of spread at diagnosis.
The Christie’s Colorectal and Peritoneal Oncology Centre (CPOC) is one of only two places in the country where patients with peritoneal spread from all three of these sites (colon, appendix, and ovarian cancer) are treated with surgery aimed at curing them. This means they are in a unique position to sample and study these tumours.
In the CPOC lab, Prof Aziz and his colleagues study the genes that make these tumours act aggressively, as well as being able to grow them to test new drugs on. They have had great success in setting up this research program and are looking to develop the research and find new treatments for the huge number of patients this affects.
Prof Aziz has a Just Giving Page and welcomes donations for this vital research at The Christie: Omer Aziz is fundraising for The Christie (justgiving.com)
