Premier League football star Ben Foster, cricketer Jonathan Trott, football manager Aidy Boothroyd, X-Factor winner Sam Bailey, former footballer and blood cancer survivor Geoff Thomas and 100 key figures from the West Midlands region attended the launch of Cure Leukaemia’s appeal to fund the expansion of the globally significant Centre for Clinical Haematology (CCH) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. 

The appeal, held at the offices of charity partner KPMG in Birmingham City Centre on Tuesday January 17th, also featured many patients who are alive today thanks to the Centre and emphasised its life-saving work since 2006 and why the expansion will offer hope to so many more suffering from the disease.

Professor Charlie Craddock CBE, who co-founded Cure Leukaemia with entrepreneur and patient Graham Silk, said: “Once established, the Centre’s capacity for research nurse positions, clinical trials and patients treated will be doubled. Over 100 jobs will be created; further enhancing Birmingham’s reputation for clinical excellence in the life science sector and patient experience will be transformed by amalgamating all haematology and blood cancer services into a single space, from out patient services to clinical trials.“