Sir Bobby’s foundation nets £4m to fight cancer

The former England football manager launched the project as he battled cancer for a fifth time on 25 March 2008, with the initial target of raising £500,000.

That total has been smashed and continues to rise, despite the death of Sir Bobby in July 2009 at the age of 76.

It took just seven weeks to reach the initial £500,000 target after Sir Bobby launched the foundation with the support of his oncologist Professor Ruth Plummer and many friends in sport and showbusiness.

She had asked Sir Bobby and his wife Lady Elsie for help with equipping the centre, and he dedicated many of his final months to raising funds. He believed the cause was his greatest legacy after a lifetime in professional sport.

The total now stands at £4,095,264 and the money is directed at finding more effective cancer treatments and “is contributing significantly to the coordinated, international research into the disease”, a spokeswoman said.

Plummer, who is director of the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, said: “Sir Bobby was absolutely committed to this charity.

“He said he’d give up a year to help us but he actually remained passionately involved for the last 18 months of his life despite being extremely ill.

“The way people continue to help us is amazing. It’s an incredible and very worthy tribute to Sir Bobby and an acknowledgement of just how many people are affected by cancer one way or another.

“Four years ago we had no idea what we could achieve through this charity.”

The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation funds projects within the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that directly benefit cancer patients from across the north-east of England and Cumbria.

More than 1,000 patients have been treated on clinical trials since the Sir Bobby Centre opened in February 2009 and an additional 1,000 patients have been enrolled in other research studies.