Factor 50

My name is Gillian Nuttall. I am the founder of Factor 50 - www.factor50.org.uk Factor 50 was "born" in December 2007, when I discovered that one of my friends, Jon Herron, was not going to survive Malignant Melanoma. When I picked myself up off the floor and stopped crying for long enough, I sat back and thought "Well, that is it then, we really are going to lose him", then I thought long and hard about what I could do. There was nothing I could do for Jon but what about everyone else?

Jon was being treated by Dr Paul Lorigan at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. I contacted Dr Lorigan to see if there was anything I could do. He told me about the Malignant Melanoma Research Fund which is his fundraising department, and said I could help out with that. He explained that he wanted to bring a clinical trial from America to the UK, and that the only hospital in the UK which could facilitate this trial would be the Christie. And there it began.

I took the Malignant Melanoma Research Fund, renamed it Factor 50, had the website built and the rest just followed on. That makes it sound very simple, it wasn't and isn't. Obviously, we are just one charity/fundraising group amongst thousands, all needing help.

We have had several events which can be seen on the website and we are working slowly and surely towards our goal of £250,000 which is what Dr Lorigan needs to bring the clinical trial to the UK.