Leukaemia Research Fund
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| Formation | 1960 |
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| Legal status | Registered charity |
| Purpose | Blood cancer research, Patient support |
| Headquarters | London |
| Location |
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Chief Executive
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Gemma Peters |
| Website | bloodwise.org.uk |
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Formerly called
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The Leukaemia Research Fund, Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research |
Bloodwise (previously known as Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research) is a UK based charity dedicated to funding research into all blood cancers including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, as well as to offering information and support to blood cancer patients.
Bloodwise's vision is to beat blood cancer. They invest money into blood cancer research to ensure that all patients have their disease diagnosed early and accurately, receive personal, targeted treatments which are effective and have minimal side effects in order to beat or manage their cancer.
Bloodwise was originally set up in 1960 as the Leukaemia Research Fund. The charity was started by the Eastwood family from Middlesbrough who began raising money following the death of their 6-year-old daughter Susan.
Since its foundation in 1960, Bloodwise has invested over £500 million in a number of different research projects which have helped improve understanding, diagnosis and treatment of blood cancers.
In 1960 children diagnosed with leukaemia had a very poor chance of survival and Susan’s parents were determined to make something positive come from their personal tragedy, so they started fundraising for research that would find a cure for leukaemia. Since then the charity has expanded to include over 150 branches. The research funded by the charity has enabled more people than ever before to survive blood cancer. The survival rate for the most common form of childhood leukaemia has increased to over 90%, and for adults the survival rate is now as high as 70-80% for some forms of blood cancer.
In 2011 the charity launched a Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) to enable quicker and greater access to new treatments which has subsequently received government recognition as a model of good practice. This programme aims to make the process of clinical trials quicker and easier within the UK. TAP links 13 treatment centres coordinated by a central hub in Birmingham to set up more clinical trials in blood cancer. Because of this geographical spread, it means 20 million people in the UK could have access to the very latest promising blood cancer treatments, if they needed it. Until 2015, 16 new clinical trials have either been opened or approved thanks to TAP.
A genetic study by a group of Newcastle University scientists published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that another research project funded by Bloodwise had reduced chances of a rare subtype of childhood leukaemia returning by 75%.
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