Education and Cancer Charity

26 May 2011

One of the great organisations I am involved with is the National Education Trust - a charity dedicated to narrowing the attainment gap - where I am a trustee. It does fantastic work with schools. www.nationaleducationtrust.net/index.php

One of my great friends there is Marc Rowland, its Business and Development Manager. On hearing about my cancer diagnosis, Marc came up with the wonderful, but some might say daft, idea of going to Thailand for the weekend to run a half-marathon to raise money for the cancer charity of my choice.

So please excuse me if I use this education blog to help publicise this wonderful, and generous, gesture.

I have chosen to request donations for the Star Throwers cancer charity in Norfolk, partly because my sister is a volunteer there but also because I really like it's philosophy, which offers something different for people like me who are told there is no 'cure' for their cancer. Unusually, it combines conventional and complementary cancer treatment and advice.

This is how Star Throwers describe themselves:

The Star Throwers was set up by Dr. Henry Mannings to provide help to cancer sufferers who felt they have nowhere else to go or required advice on further management. The treatment of cancer in this country is divided into conventional therapies and palliative care with patients transferring from the former system to the latter should treatment be unsuccessful. Many patients are not ready to accept that nothing further can be done to help them and seek out further help.

The purpose of the Star Throwers is to guide and support those who wish to look at all aspects of cancer treatment either before or after treatment with conventional therapy and also give advice on the prevention of cancer in those at high risk.

You can find out more about their work at: www.starthrowers.org.uk/index.php

So, back to Marc and his Thai half-marathon. It takes place on September 11th and Marc is covering all the expenses himself, so any money donated goes 100% to charity.

To support Marc's great initiative you can donate directly at: www.starthrowers.org.uk/donate.php

Please let Marc know about your donation so he can keep a tally of what's been raised and send him messages of support. His email is: marc@nationaleducationtrust.net

If you prefer, you can also send a cheque payable to Marc Rowland (saying which charity you want him to donate to) at The National Education Trust, 1st Floor International House, 1 St Katharine's Way, London, E1W 1TW.

Marc will keep everyone up to date on his progress at this page: www.nationaleducationtrust.net/MarcRowland/index.php

Sadly my own marathon running days are over but I will be mentally urging Mac on with every stride and I'm off now to make my donation.

I know we all receive huge numbers of requests like this, but - if you feel able - do please donate, however little.

I will also keep everyone up to date with his progress on my cancer blog: www.mikebakereducation.co.uk/beatingcancer/