'Please run to battle cancer' (From Witney Gazette)

'Please run to battle cancer'

A RETIRED GP has paid tribute to all the patients he helped to fight cancer and urged people to take part in a fundraising 10k run.

Appeal: Dr Richard Evans

Dr Richard Evans, from Weston-on-the-Green, near Bicester, who was a practice GP before working in palliative care at Sobell House hospice in Oxford, said he had seen "huge heroism and great grief and fear" in patients he had tended over the years.

"Many of those people will be etched on to my memory for the rest of my life," he said.

Dr Evans, 63, raised more than £400 by running in the Cancer Research UK 10k at Blenheim Palace last year and he is calling for other people to take part this year.

The run winds through 2,000 acres of parkland at the Woodstock palace, which is home to the 11th Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

The charity hopes 2,000 runners will take part on Sunday, September 30, and raise over £130,000 for cancer research. More than 1,100 people have already registered.

Dr Evans was a GP in Bicester for 30 years and in 1995 moved into cancer care at Sobell House.

He worked there as a palliative physician for 10 years before retiring and said: "My decision to run the 10k last year was as a testimonial to all the patients I had known and loved in their fight with cancer."

He praised the work of the Sobell House, saying: "Cancer can be very scary for patients and their friends and family.

"No one knows what to say. Many are scared they will burst into tears.

"Working at Sobell House was an extraordinary experience.

"I found such huge heroism and I saw extraordinary courage.

"I also saw the selflessness of people who work there."

One lady forever etched in the doctor's mind was a patient in her 80s, with a brain tumour. Dr Evans added: "She had been told she only had months to live but she lived for four more years. Every time she came to another birthday, she would wink at me and say 'Got that one wrong, eh doc!' "She enjoyed her life and when she died, she died with her family around her bed."

Dr Evans ran last year's Cancer Research UK 10k at Blenheim with his daughter, Catharine, and her boyfriend, Edward Blagrove.

The 10K series, supported by Tesco, is expected to attract 36,000 men and women throughout Britain and raise nearly £4m for vital research to help beat cancer.

The series is open to men and women over the age of 16 and is suitable for beginners and regular runners.

To enter a 10k event, visit the website cancerresearchuk10.co.uk