We hope you'll be inspired by the dedication of our fundraisers and the expertise of our researchers who are all working together to tackle pancreatic cancer. This section covers news about PCRF-funded research as well as research into pancreatic cancer being carried out all over the world.
After 20 years of supporting research into pancreatic cancer, Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF) has announced its intention to wind down at the end of April 2024. The charity’s CEO Maggie Blanks, who set up the charity in 2004, will retire.
Five new cutting edge projects worth just over £1 million have been funded by PCRF. The five projects started in 2023 and the majority run for three years.
We’re very happy and relieved to report that Jack Alexander and his 5 team-mates safely – and rather swiftly it seems! – completed their 45km swimming relay challenge around Hong Kong Island in 12 hours and 3 minutes on 19 October, after a typhoon forced them to postpone their first attempt.
Jack Alexander, 27, aims to raise HKD 1m (£100k) by completing the signature “Hong Kong 360” on 19 October – a 45km fundraising swim that circumnavigates Hong Kong Island – in a relay team of six.
Mike Thomson, 53, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire is tackling an epic 100km trek across the Sahara in November in tribute to his mother and to raise money for PCRF.
Colin Matheson (70) and friend George Gorman (69), both from Dundee, completed the 96-mile West Highland Way trek together in July, raising over £1000 for PCRF.
Riccardo (Ricc) Codacci-Pisanelli, 28, and his brothers Matteo, 30, and Cosimo, 32, raised over £80k for PCRF by running 100km (62miles) along the Norfolk Coastal Path on 16 June in tribute to their mother, Sarah.
Michael Gray from Feltham in West London is taking on a mammoth 200-mile Paris to London charity cycle ride for PCRF – and he’s doing it nearly 6 feet off the ground on his Penny Farthing!
Boyan Pulic from Haddenham in Buckinghamshire will trek from dawn until dusk in the Chiltern Hills near his home after seeing friends and family devastated by pancreatic cancer.
Josie Bennett, 25, from Birmingham is honouring her late grandma Pat Bennett by taking on the 813 mile John O’Groats to Land’s End (JOGLE) hike in June.