Charity riders embark on Tour de North to make a noise about the ‘silent killer'

date: 5^th September 2012

embargo: for immediate release

The Emma Gyles Bursary charity ride team are now donning their lycra (and sideburns) about to hit the starting line ready for the first leg of their epic 240 mile cycle ride across Cumbria and the North East starting early tomorrow (6^th September).The core group will start in Whitehaven, on the west coast of Cumbria and finish at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead on Friday evening, visiting gynaecological oncology departments with a roadshow promoting ovarian cancer awareness and the Emma Gyles Bursary along the way.

The organisers and instigators of this amazing feat are Professor Richard Edmondson, Professor of Gynaecological Oncology at the Northern Institute of Cancer research in Newcastle and Ken Gyles, father of Emma Gyles who died in 2008 aged just 24 of ovarian cancer. The Bursary was set up in Emma's memory to help fund research into ovarian cancer and its aim is to raise £10,000 a year to fund a full-time medical student to work on the research alongside Professor Edmondson and his team.

Also lending their pedal power to the cause are Kevin Rowan, Northern TUC Regional Secretary, Maddie Moat, the 2012-13 recipient of the Emma Gyles Bursary, Dr Kathy Gillies and Alex Rodgers, a fellow TUC member of staff who also recently completed the Coast to Coast ride for the charity. Other guest riders will be showing their support by joining them for various parts of the journey.

Emma's father, Ken Gyles said: 'Emma was always helping others during her life and knowing that the bursary and research in her memory continues makes her family very proud. I would like to thank my friends for their fantastic efforts over the next 2 days knowing that what we achieve does make a difference.'

Professor Richard Edmondson said: 'This is a great opportunity to raise awareness of ovarian cancer, which still doesn't get a high profile. We are looking forward to meeting up with some of our patients and also members of our team who work throughout the North of England. I'm just hoping my legs are up to it - I may have grown Bradley Wiggins sideburns in the last few weeks but I'm not sure they make me go any faster!'

To donate or for more information on the Emma Gyles Bursary fund please follow the link to www.justgiving.com/kengyles

Locally, there are over 200 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed each year in the North of England Cancer Network, an area covering from Whitehaven in the West to Middlesbrough in the East and up to the Scottish border. Patients are treated surgically at the Northern Gynaecological Oncology Centre in Gateshead and James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and can then receive chemotherapy in a number of hospitals throughout the region. The North of England Cancer Network has one of the best survival rates in the country (data from National Cancer Intelligence Network) but there is still much work to do.

Treatment is getting better with improvements in surgery and the development of new chemotherapy drugs, including a new type of drug called a PARP inhibitor which was developed in Newcastle. This is now showing promising results in clinical trials.

For more information on the research group, please visit the website:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nicr/research/sttd/ovarian.htm

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Itinerary

Date/time	Details	Postcode	Contact details
Thursday
6/9/12 0715	North Cumbria University hospital, Whitehaven Cycle team all meet (Richard, Ken, Kevin, Alex, Maddie, Kathy) Car Support, Rachel and Joe Breakfast and depart by no later than 0745 (40 miles)	CA28 8JG	Dr Kathy Gillies 07901911275
6/9/12 1030	Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle Depart 1100 (45 miles)	CA2 7HY	Julie Thomas
6/9/12 1345	Arrive Main Street Brough Lunch Depart 1400 (38 miles)
6/9/12 1630	Darlington Memorial Hospital Main outpatients	DL3 6HX	Anne Louise Grant
6/9/12 1800	Arrive Premier Inn,Darlington, joined by Matt	DL1 4PJ
Friday
7/9/12 0630	Pick up James at Premier inn and transfer by car to James Cook	DL1 4PJ
7/9/12 0715	James Cook Hospital, Middlesbrough Entrance to Women's Health Cycle team meet at 0715(Richard, Ken, Kevin, Alex, Maddie, Matt and James) Car Support, Rachel and Joe Breakfast and depart by 0745 (38 miles)	TS4 3BW	Jane McNeill 07917693760
7/9/12 1000	University Hospital Durham Depart 1030 (13 miles)	DH1 5TW	Jan Butcher 07989793662
7/9/12 1130	Sunderland Royal Hospital Entrance to Chester Road Outpatients Depart 1200 (7.5 miles)	SR4 7TP	Karen Philipson (Sheila Jubb 0191 569978)
7/9/12 1230	South Tyneside General Hospital Lunch Depart 1300 (21 miles) Pick up Graham Dark at north entrance to passenger tunnel	NE34 0PL	Berni Cardy 07913604218
7/9/12 1430	Wansbeck General Hospital Entrance foyer to Hospital Depart 1500 (17 miles)	NE63 9JJ	Sue Richardson 07717868222 (or 07979442264)
7/9/12 1600	Paul O'Gorman Building, Newcastle University Coffee room Pick up any volunteer cyclists wanting to do last few miles Depart 1620 (5 miles)	NE2 4HH	Dr Angelika Kaufmann 07912421153
7/9/12 1700	Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead Seminar Room,NGOC Welcome reception	NE9 6SX	Lillian Lee 07557003325

Ovarian cancer awareness

Although ovarian cancer is commonly called a silent killer in fact many patients do have symptoms but don't recognise them as being important. Common symptoms to look out for are:

Persistent pelvic or abdominal pain (that's your tummy button and below)

Increased abdominal size/persistent bloating - not bloating that comes and goes

Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly

Urinary symptoms (needing to wee more urgently or more often than usual)

It is important to remember however that in most cases these symptoms are only serious if they are frequent, persistent and new

Previous bursary holders

This year's holder of the bursary was Miss Anna Grundy. Anna carried out a project developing methods to isolate ovarian cancer cells in order to be able to test them to see whether the cancer will respond to new drugs called PARP inhibitors. She was successful in being able to isolate cells and test them in under 5 days whereas previously this had taken 15 days. This is really important in being able to deliver treatments quickly to patients. The importance of her work has already been recognised and she is due to present her findings at the National Cancer Research Institute meeting in Liverpool this December.

Anna said 'I am immensely grateful for the fantastic opportunity to carry out a research project in ovarian cancer. Working with the ovarian cancer research group has been incredibly rewarding and has encouraged me to pursue my interest in the speciality of oncology. I now have a greater appreciation of the challenges faced by individuals with ovarian cancer and feel honoured to have contributed towards the development of better treatments for these patients.'

Next year (2012/2013) the bursary has been awarded to Maddie Moat who will be taking over the work started by Anna.

Current research aims in Newcastle/Gateshead

The ovarian research group is a team of scientists and doctors based at the Northern Gynaecological Oncology Centre in Gateshead and Newcastle University. The group is led by Prof Richard Edmondson and carries out research to try and identify the best treatment for each patient. The aim of the research is to enable patients to receive the best treatment for them at the best time - a concept called personalised medicine.

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Media contacts:

Kevin Rowan, Northern TUC Regional Secretary T: 0191 227 5565; M: 07766250074; E: krowan@tuc.org.uk