Do I really want to go for a run?!

Having had a horrible cold all week I haven't ventured out for a run for a while (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!).  I've managed to drag myself to Buggy Club and Zumba, but the thought of going out running in the current volatile weather conditions did not appeal; I'm currently looking out of the window watching hailstones as I type!

But whilst on the train on Thursday a headline in one of the papers caught my eye and reminded me why our challenge is so important.

Some clever scientist bods have just completed a recent study, funded by Cancer Research UK, and found that breast cancer should be thought of as 10 completely separate diseases.  These "landmark" findings could improve treatment by tailoring drugs for a patient's exact type of breast cancer and help predict survival more accurately.

Researchers compared breast cancer to a map of the world. They said tests currently used in hospitals were quite broad, splitting breast cancer up into the equivalent of continents. The latest findings give the breast cancer map far more detail, allowing you to find individual "countries". 

There are clear survival differences among the 10 categories, and this information could help better inform and prepare patients and their families.  But long term, and this is still some way off, the hope is that by identifying the 10 breast cancers it will be possible for researchers to design drugs for each one.

This research has reaffirmed the decision by the Department of Health to invest more than £750m to make sure people are diagnosed with cancer earlier and have better access to the latest treatments.  With our help, Cancer Research UK will continue to fund this groundbreaking work, and will change the lives of breast cancer patients, and patients with other forms of cancer, for the better. 

So having read this headline story, I suddenly feel prompted to dust off the running shoes once again, and continue to spread the 'Team Tonia' word.  The more money we raise, the more work Cancer Research UK can do, and the more lives they can save.  Simples.

Kate - 21st April 2012
(For the full story, see www.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17740690)