Joey & Hollie Hyrox 2024

Hi all! We are taking part in a hybrid fitness event Hyrox, which will push us to our limits in running and functional fitness exercise. The money we raise through sponsorship will go to the amazing new charity, Oncogene Cancer Research. After our lovely cousin and friend, Amy, was diagnosed with ALK+ lung cancer at the age of 20 years old, her Mother Jan went on a pursuit to find the best medicine and research into this rare form cancer, and went on to set up the Oncogene Research Charity. The money raised will help fund Professor Suzanne Turner who looks after young children and people like Amy with ALK+ type cancers, we are so grateful for any donations big or small! More detail on the specific Research we are helping fund: Professor Suzanne Turner's current research project is into relatively new drugs called kinase inhibitors which are used to treat a variety of oncogene-addicted cancers such as ALK-positive lung cancer. Whilst kinase inhibitors have provided a step-change in treatment approaches having far fewer side-effects than traditional toxic chemotherapy, they require long term use, and patients eventually develop resistance. In these situations, it is possible to switch to another kinase inhibitor but ultimately, long term use of these drugs is not without side-effects and the constant fear of relapse. This may be overcome by the combined use of so-called ‘targeted drugs’ like kinase inhibitors – drugs that are more specific to affecting the survival of cancer cells rather than healthy cells. By combining these drugs, it may be possible to prevent relapse by hitting the cancer cells at multiple key signalling nodes making it harder for them to become resistant. Studies to identify which combinations of drugs work well together in synergy have been conducted and now need to be tested in cancer model systems. Preliminary work to validate this approach can be conducted with as little as £15,000!