Cancer centre will give hope to others hope (From Echo)

Cancer centre will give hope to others hope

2:00am Wednesday 3rd March 2010 in

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A FATHER given a second chance at life after being told he had terminal cancer is backing a new research centre which he says will give others hope.

Peter Hall, 45, from Leigh, was treated for non-Hodg-kin’s Lymphoma at Barts Hospital in London, which is opening a £2m Cancer Research UK Centre.

Mr Hall paid tribute to staff for their care and recalled being diagnosed in 1993, aged 29, at around the same time he became a dad for the first time.

Mr Hall had chemotherapy treatment, and stem cell and bone marrow transplants at Barts.

After each bout of chemotherapy the disease went into remission, only to quickly and aggresively return, to the point where he was told his cancer was terminal.

Mr Hall, who had to give up his job in sales and marketing, said: “The first year was not too problematic, but things took a turn for the worse in 1999, when I was told it was terminal and I was looked after by Fair Havens Hospice. But against all the odds I survived.

“I had the very best care at Barts and this new centre will provide the best in clinical excellence, while undertaking vital research to provide hope for more in the future.”

He was finally given the all-clear by doctors at Barts in December 2005.

The new centre, opening this spring, will focus mainly on pancreatic, breast, ovarian and prostate cancer, leukaemia and lymphoma. It will conduct research into the genes that drive cancer with the aim of improving diagnosis and formulating new therapies.

The father of two has raised £55,000 for both Cancer Research UK and Fair Havens since recovering, after taking part in running and cycling events.

“I needed something to aim for and fundraising helped me,” he said.

“I volunteered, then worked, for Fair Havens until 2007, before joining Cancer Research as an area volunteer manager.

“It’s like my story has come full circle. I worked in palliative care, which I had experienced, and now I am working for the charity working to find a cure.”

Mr Hall lives with his wife, Elaine, who he married in January, and her two children, and has two teenage children of his own, Tom, 16 and Holly, 14.

He said: “I have two wonderful children, who helped sustain me when times were difficult.

“They now know they needn’t fear cancer and there is always hope.”