Pedal for PROTONS, CARE and HOPE

Lands end to John O’Groats is an iconic challenge and the group of riders will be cycling over 1000 miles each in just 9 days, all in aid of three amazing charities that do outstanding work for those facing cancer.

Hope - Cancer prevention and clinical trials helping defeat cancer coming up with new ideas that span all over the world.

Care - The Manchester Children’s Hospital is an outstanding place that supports children and complex cancer cases from all over the country. It is actually the busiest in the country ahead of places like Great Ormond Street.

Protons - Preventing cancer coming back and utilising the latest technology, directing protons in a more accurate way than normal radiotherapy.

A story from the ride organiser Tom Copson.

On 28th September 2023 we were told that my daughter Marcia had a cancerous tumour known as Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma, a type of Salivary Gland cancer. It is extremely rare and doesn’t even react to chemotherapy. This type of cancer almost never appears in children of 9 years old and therefore there was not a prescribed treatment plan.

In October 2023 she had a 9 hour operation in Nottingham QMC to remove the tumour. We were told prior to the surgery that if it surrounded her facial nerve this would make it even more difficult to deal with and they may have to cut the tumour to retain her facial nerve. This is what had to happen; the tumour had to be cut as it had engulfed her main facial nerve on her right side making a return more likely.

By February 2024, she had developed a visible growth which had started to spread across part of her face and towards her lymph glands. At this stage this was classed as a high grade cancerous tumour and the oncology teams we had dealt with so far were unable to help.

Following calls with Great Ormond Street and Nottingham QMC; who also confirmed they did not know how to help, multiple calls were made with specialists around the country, as part of the NHS MDT process.

There was a surgeon identified in the Manchester Children’s Hospital, Sean Loughran, who also said that he had not dealt with this before, but had seen something similar and would be willing to help. The words I won’t forget were "This is extremely rare and a very complex procedure, I can do this….. but you are going to have to give me two weeks to pull together a multidiscipline team.”

So, on 11th April 2024, Marcia underwent a 16 hour surgery in the Manchester Children’s Hospital, involving four main surgeons. A tumour Oncology specialist, an ear specialist to remove all of her inner ear, a maxillofacial specialist to take skin and tissue from her leg to rebuild part of her face, and a nerve graft specialist to rebuild the main facial nerve that had been removed, using nerves from her leg.

All four surgeons were there right until the end and came to explain what they had done directly after the operation, at around 1.30am. Marcia was kept asleep for 28 hours and had 5 days in Intensive Care. She also had to be transferred to the burns unit as she had a huge bed sore that crossed her entire back, from being kept still for so long on the operating table during theatre.

Due to the severity of the tumour it was decided she should undertake Proton Therapy, which is a type of radiotherapy using Protons, to essentially kill off any cells to reduce the chance of recurrence. This took place in the Proton Centre at the Christie Cancer Hospital in Manchester where we had to live for 7 weeks. She had a 30 mins proton treatment every weekday.
We were told early on because it was so rare they would have to judge the levels of radiation, but this would be one of the highest they had seen for a 9 year old girl.

This process was incredibly tough for her, as it really damaged inside her neck and throat. She lost a lot of weight and at one point had to try a liquid food diet…along with plenty of hot chocolates! The doctors even suggested stopping treatment but Marcia wanted to carry on like the warrior princess she was all along!
And on the 11th of July she rang the bell in the Proton centre!

Since then she has recovered well and we started her facial therapy to try and use the side of her face that had the facial nerve graft in place. She does exercises every single day to help it but it will take a number of years to see how it reacts as she grows. In August 2025 she was told that her resting face is now 100% symmetry on both sides which we couldn't be more amazed and pleased about.

This is life changing for her and there will always be regular monitoring and implications, but she is living a happy normal life and coping so well with little hearing in her right ear.

So this is what all the miles on the bikes is for, now is the time to give back!

All of the three charities are important in the fight against cancer so please dig deep…. It’s the biggest battle we have in the world today!