CANCER CONSULTANT RAISES MORE THAN £5,500 TO FUND RESEARCH INTO THE DISEASE HE FIGHTS EVERY DAY

CANCER consultant Dr Hugo De La Peña has raised over £5,000 for Cancer Research by running in the London Marathon.

The consultant who has worked at University Hospital Southampton for four years is committed to helping people face, live and survive breast cancer. He also wishes to help those he cannot ‘see’ by raising funds for cancer research. He opened Race for Life in Southampton for CRUK last year where more than 2,000 people got together to raise over £300,000 pounds.  

Dr Hugo said: “Breast cancer is the commonest cancer in women: sadly that means the commonest cancer in mothers, sisters, nans, daughters and for me that fight is very personal. The cure rate for breast cancer now is 80%, but sadly the worst and more aggressive types still happen in young women with young families and is absolutely heart-breaking.”

Dr Hugo, who lives in Hampshire, is the health professional who features in the current UK-wide tv advertisement for Cancer Research where he is seen giving an ‘all-clear’ to one of his real-life patients Marianne. 

“With 200 different types of cancer, money for research soon runs out. Clinical trials are my passion and I put all my patients into clinical trials if available, that is the only way in which cure rates increase and less toxic treatments develop. 

“We should always aim to cure cancer, but if we can’t, then we need treatments to convert cancer into a chronic disease rather than a life limiting one. Cancer will affect 1 in 2 of us, so we either bury our heads in the sand or we tackle it,” Dr Hugo said.

Dr Hugo ran the London Marathon in five hours. He said of the event:

“The London Marathon was the perfect Victory Lap after five months of training four times a week during the hard winter.”

With over 80% of the donations coming directly from his patients and their relatives, he said: “I certainly did not run alone, time is a luxury that some of my patients do not have and so finding new treatments for cancer is in fact a race.”

Anyone who wishes to support Dr Hugo and raise more cash for cancer research can do so here https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/hugo-de-la-pena