Some of the stars of GolfSixes visited the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea to see first first-hand how the event’s partnership with the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity will benefit the world-leading cancer centre.
European Tour Chairman David Williams was joined by Thorbjørn Olesen of defending champions Denmark, Ireland’s Paul Dunne and Daniel Im of the United States for a tour of the hospital and to see plans for a new Clinical Care and Research Centre (CCRC) at The Royal Marsden in Sutton, Surrey.
The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity has launched its biggest ever capital appeal to build the new CCRC, which will give The Royal Marsden increased capacity to treat more patients in the best possible environments and, with researchers under the same roof as clinicians, there will be more accelerated progress in new treatments.
The funds raised for the charity through GolfSixes will go towards the appeal, with activity over the weekend at Centurion Club in St Albans including the Birdies for Good hole, sponsored by digital currency firm LIFElabs.io, who will donate the equivalent of £500 of LIFEtokens to the tournament’s Official Charity Partners every time a birdie is recorded on the second hole of the six-hole circuit.
The Chairman and players were welcomed by Dr Naureen Starling, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Associate Director of Clinical Research; Lara Roskelly, Divisional Nurse Director; and Edwin Drummond, Head of Philanthropy at The Royal Marsden.
Dr Naureen Starling said: “The partnership with the European Tour is incredibly important, it’s going to make a real, tangible difference to the care that we can offer our patients by supporting our new building. The CCRC is going to be critical for increasing capacity to be able to offer treatment to more cancer patients. We know that the incidences of cancer are increasing, but we also know that some of our treatment is getting better and we’re using more treatments, so capacity is very important.
“The patient experience and the family experience, the environment in which the patients are treated is absolutely going to transform the experience of cancer care in the hospital. It’s also going to integrate our clinical research and care. It’s really going to help facilitate the sort of clinical research that we can conduct, and it’s only really through research that we can make progress for our patients.”
Paul Dunne said: “Talking to the staff, the doctors and nurses you see that it’s not a job for them, it’s a lifestyle. That’s quite infectious and it’s really humbling to see. It was a privilege to be here.
“The European Tour do a great job in fundraising for charities and raising awareness and that’s the biggest thing they can do. The real important work is done by the researchers and doctors and nurses. Anything we can do to enable their work to be more efficient and to make strides is really important.”
The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, which raises money solely to support The Royal Marsden, is an Official Charity Partner of GolfSixes alongside the European Tour Foundation, which works with charities, players, governing bodies and partners to ensure a lasting legacy in the countries where the European Tour plays.
David Williams said: “Every time I come to a hospital like this I am humbled by what is going on – the dedication of the staff, the incredible competence of the clinicians, it just blows me away. The new facility will help enormously. Currently they see around 86,000 patients per year and with the new facility at the Marsden in Sutton in Surrey they will see around 120 – 130,000 so with that uplift in capacity, just think how many lives that could save.”
The Royal Marsden opened its doors in 1851 as the world’s first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education. Today, together with its academic partner, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), it is the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe.
Find out more about the Clinical Care and Research Centre appeal at:https://www.royalmarsden.org/appeal
