National Recruitment Consultancy get on their bikes for Pancreatic Cancer Action
34 employees from recruitment agency ‘Better Placed’ are taking part in a mighty challenge to raise funds and awareness for charity Pancreatic Cancer Action. The challenge, which they are calling ‘The Italian Job’, is a 24 hour static bike-a-thon covering the distance from the UK to Rome (2000km) in all three of the company’s offices: London, Manchester and Leeds.
The company is supporting employee Kate Siegel who is determined to raise funds and awareness of pancreatic cancer after sadly lost her mother, Monica, to pancreatic cancer on October 11th 2015.
Kate said: “Mum was diagnosed following check-ups for very vague symptoms, with an inoperable tumour on her pancreas. She underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the 22 months from diagnosis to her passing.
“Within the first month of her diagnosis I started talking to Pancreatic Cancer Action, primarily because the lady who set up the charity was a survivor herself, who took the time to phone my mum and talk to
her for over an hour about the disease and how they could support her and the family. From that day on I made it my mission that I would do all I could to raise awareness of the disease and help the charity receive extra funding.
“We were grateful for the support from the charity and know that the research and awareness campaigns can save lives if people get early diagnosis. I was really touched that Better Placed offered to choose this charity for the bike-a-thon and that so many people from the company are getting involved!”
Dean Bartle- Director from Better Placed said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored us and to The Gym Group who very kindly are loaning us the bikes for the event. It is great to know that our company will be raising funds to improve early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and make people aware of this grim disease that is remarkably underfunded in terms of research.”
Pancreatic Cancer is the UK’s fifth biggest cancer killer and 24 people die a day from the disease. The 5 year survival rate is just 4%, a figure which has not changed in over 40 years.
Most pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed too late. Pancreatic Cancer Action is committed to working towards earlier diagnosis of the disease so that surgery, currently the only cure, is made available to the sufferer.
Ali Stunt, pancreatic cancer survivor and founder of the charity, said: “We are delighted that Kate and her company, Better Placed, are giving their time to support Pancreatic Cancer Action.
“As a charity, we rely on the generosity of people and companies like this to help us continue our vital work. Please back them in their fundraising efforts so that we can continue research into early diagnosis and raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.”
You can support the Bike-a-thon by visiting: www.justgiving.com/Betterplacedbikeathon/
Why not involve your company in your fundraising efforts?!