Lynsey Ritchie is campaigning for the charity, which faces a £160m income drop this year.
An inspirational mother-of-four who overcame breast cancer has been chosen to help launch an urgent new appeal to get life-saving research back on track.
Lynsey Ritchie, from Denny, hopes that by sharing her story she can inspire people in Scotland to donate to Cancer Research UK and help more people survive the disease.
Lynsey, 43, was diagnosed with cancer in July 2019 and underwent 15 rounds of chemotherapy before a double mastectomy last December.
During her treatment, Lynsey wrote a blog where she wrote movingly about her experiences, such as when she threw a “thanks for the mammaries” party ahead of her surgery. Lynsey finally celebrated the end of her treatment in March – just before the beginning of the UK coronavirus lockdown.
She has now recorded a video supporting Cancer Research UK as it launches an urgent appeal for donations after a devastating loss of funding caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. Following the cancellation of fundraising events such as Race for Life, the charity is expecting a staggering £160 million drop in income in the year ahead and has had to cut £44m of research funding.
Lynsey said: “No words will ever be able to describe the moment I knew I had cancer. How could this possibly happen to me? It was a huge shock as I was a fit, healthy and active mum of four boys under seven. I rarely drank, didn’t smoke and I was still breastfeeding my baby at diagnosis. I thought I was too young to get cancer.
“It’s thanks to improved treatments that I’ve been given more precious time with my loved ones. It upsets me to think about research being held up and what this might mean for people affected by cancer in the months and years to come.
“By boosting funding now, we can all help to lessen the future impact on patients. So, I hope that people across Scotland will be inspired by the charity’s determination to carry on beating cancer and give what they can.”
Cancer Research UK’s work in to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been at the heart of progress that has seen survival in the UK double in the last 40 years. Thanks to the generosity of its supporters, the charity currently funds around 50% of all cancer research in the UK and has played a part in developing eight out of 10 of the world’s top cancer drugs.
Now, as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic, promising projects which could lead to significant advances in the fight against cancer are being held up.
Lisa Adams, Cancer Research UK’s spokeswoman in Scotland, said: “Covid-19 has put so much of our research on pause, leaving us facing a crisis where every day and every pound counts.
“With around 32,200 people are diagnosed with cancer every year in Scotland, we will never stop striving to create better treatments. But we can’t do it alone.
“Whether they donate, sign up to Race for Life at Home or shop in our stores - with the help of people across Scotland we believe that together we will still beat cancer.”
