Further information
Professor Ray Donnelly FRCSE
Roy Castle Centre
Enterprise Way
Wavertree Technology Park
Liverpool L13 1FB. UK.
Telephone: 0151 254 7200
Email: raymund.donnelly@roycastle.org






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Liverpool Echo Article - September 2005
IT was the conversation Ray Donnelly had had with a thousand different patients in his 30 years as a surgeon.

This time though the roles were reversed. Patiently, carefully, someone was saying the words that would change his life. 'I'm sorry, Ray, but you've got cancer.'

For Merseyside's most celebrated cancer surgeon, for a man whose whole life had been about beating the disease, the whole world was being turned upside down.

'I always imagined I knew how people felt when I told them. But the reality is quite different. You only understand when it's you and not somebody else.'

Terrifying? Depressing?

'It was strange. I didn't feel fear. In fact, I felt matter-of-fact. I tried very hard to bring my medical experience to bear, tried to think hard about all the survivors I'd known who had much worse cancer than I did.

'I knew within seconds that I had to adopt a positive attitude.'

Experience also told him the prognosis was good. The cancer had been spotted early.

''It was earlier this year when things started to change. I'd suffered some discomfort, no more than that, so I went for a scan to see if I had a prostate problem. The scan showed up a lesion in my bladder.

'I didn't regard it as an illness but it was definitely a landmark in my life. I have cancer. Let's move on.'

 If Ray Donnelly coped with being told he had cancer, then what of his family?

''I told my wife Elizabeth straight away.  She was shocked but wonderfully supportive. After that I told our five children but I made sure I did so in a positive framework. I kept stressing that I was well and I was optimistic.

You can't, though, kid the kids.

'After all, they are the children of a lung cancer surgeon. They know that lung cancer carries a 90% mortality rate in the first five years. All I could do was keep telling them it was bladder cancer, not lung cancer. Keep telling them I felt fine and that I was upbeat about the future.'

The cancer was successfully removed by surgery a few weeks later but what is the future?

Ray Donnelly shrugs the shrug of a realist. 'I'm still fine. I have regular check-ups and will do so for the rest of my life. I'll look after myself and I'll stay optimistic.'

Donnelly, a practicing catholic, will lean heavily on a personal faith he describes as 'very, very strong.'

And he has a strong sense of poignancy as he talks about the ecumenical annual cancer service he helps promote annually at Liverpool's Cathedrals.

This year, the Pause for Hope service takes place on Sunday, October 9 at the Metropolitan Cathedral at 3pm. Supported by a string of health organisations, including Marie Curie, Macmillan, Alder Hey, the North West Cancer Research Fund and other local cancer charities and hospices, it seeks to offer spiritual support to anyone and everyone whose lives have been touched by cancer.

''We began this in 1999 at St Francis Xavier's Church in Liverpool,' explained Donnelly, 69.

'It is free and is open to cancer patients, their loved ones, carers, cancer nurses, doctors, health professionals, local authorities, administrators, and the scientists who seek cures.

'Cancer is a grim subject but the message of this service is a message of hope. The same message in many ways that Roy Castle and I had in mind when we began the Cause for Hope Appeal to raise money to build the Lung Cancer centre here in Liverpool.

'An important part of the service is when individual candles are lit for someone’s special intention or in memory of cancer sufferers or of those lost to cancer. It is extremely moving, yet hope remains the most powerful emotion. Hope that cancer will eventually be beaten.'

Does he believe that can happen?

'I do. Sincerely.  It's what Roy Castle and I always promised ourselves. Roy is still important to our work. His name, years after his death, still means so much to people in Liverpool and across the country.'

Castle, among the most gifted and versatile of entertainers, fell victim to lung cancer through passive smoking. His last years were devoted to fund raising for the Liverpool based charity and increasing public awareness of the disease.

'He truly believed, as I do, that one day cancer will be no more.

'Cancer science is closing in and the lung cancer centre in Liverpool is at the forefront. The key is identifying the genetic pathway that leads to lung cancer.

'It is complex, but there are genes that are responsible for replacing cells that die off or become damaged. If the replacement genes have previously been damaged – say, by tobacco – then the new cells they form are abnormal. The worse the damage the more the abnormality and eventually the cells become so bizarre they become cancerous.

'We are very close now to understanding this pathway. Once we do, we will know where and when to intervene. That is the key to beating cancer.'

In the meantime Donnelly continues to champion the work of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, supporting the work of the fundraisers and the scientists. He has also nearly finished a history of the charity, scheduled for publication next year.

'What has been achieved, here in Liverpool, is astonishing. I'm proud to be a part of it. If Roy was still around he'd be pleased. Very pleased.'

*More information on the Pause for Hope service is available from Professor Donnelly at the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, tel: 0871 2205396 or from any of the local cancer charities.

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