On Your Marks....

I've been winding my friends up about how we should try and 'win' the Moonwalk in May.
'It's not a RACE!' they keep telling me. They know I'm one of the most competitive human beings in the world, and I think I've got them a little worried about me making them muscle our way to the front of thousands of bra-clad ladies and gents....

.....Of COURSE I know that the Moonwalk isn't really a race, I just enjoy winding them up. But in a way it IS a race - though not in the sense of being first to cross the finish line. Its about raising funds to help scientists find a cure for this awful bloody disease....as quickly as we can.

"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer," Alexander Fleming said, "But I suppose that was exactly what I did".

'It was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mould, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognised for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections.'

Time Magazine, 1999

One day, we will read quotes about something that someone discovered that will 'alter forever the treatment of cancer.'

Someone, somewhere, will have a Eureka moment and discover a new method, a new drug a new treatment, ANYthing that rids the world of this disease.

One of the girls on the Cancer Research forum lost her battle with cancer recently. She was 37 and had 4 children. None of us had ever met this lady but she was a friend to many on the forum. We didn't realise just how ill she was. In her posts, she never complained and she always offered support to others.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Cancer Research forum, a debate is raging about how Cancer Research's BIG event, the 'girl's only'  'Race for Life' is sexist. A group of guys are banging their fists on the table, shouting, complaining, raging about how unfair it is that they can't take part. Others try gently to offer alternative points of view, but are promptly lectured and dictated to. 'This is our opinion, and no-one else can have an alternative view...'

Rather than offer my point of view on that particular forum, because they'll just tell me how wrong I am, I'll offer it here instead. I say, - 'Who bloody cares how the money is raised, just as long as people are getting out there and trying to make a difference by taking part in the MANY fundraising events on offer, or by supporting someone who is taking part in one.

That lovely lady was only 37 for goodness sake. 4 children without their mum! Quit complaining about HOW the money is raised, just bloody do it! Come ON, let's race to find a cure!

Whether you're walking the 26 miles through the night in London wearing a decorated bra, wheezing around the 13 miles of the Great North Run, buying tat from jumble sales, attending coffee mornings and jazz picnics...or even, dare I say it taking part in The Race for Life....ALL of these fundraising activities might, just MIGHT help to make a difference.....Maybe the 'Race for Life is Sexist' people would consider doing a sponsored silence...

For now - to all you scientists out there, here's a word from the penicillin maestro himself -

'In our lives, chance may have an astonishing influence and, if I may offer advice to the young laboratory worker, it would be this - never to neglect an extraordinary appearance or happening....one sometimes finds what one is not looking for.'

Alexander Fleming.

ONE day, a little lab worker from Cancer Research, funded by the thousands of people who are racing around trying to help find a cure, will exclaim,
'Hey! I think I've found something!'.....

Wouldn't that be great.