Eid event organised in Preston raises £5,300 for cancer charity

An Eid celebration dinner raised £5,300 for the Rosemere Cancer Foundation.

The event was hosted by Professor Mohammed Munavvar, the Royal Preston Hospital’s world renowned chest consultant.

The donation was raised by its 180 guests via ticket sales, pledges and an auction and was boosted by stall holders, who paid a fee to attend.

Held at Preston’s Imperial Banqueting Suite, the event also provided an opportunity for Professor Munavvar, who has worked at the Royal Preston for almost 23 years, to talk about his work and how support from Rosemere Cancer Foundation has enabled him to ensure the city’s hospital has had the latest in lung cancer diagnostic technology usually before any other hospital in the country.

Professor Munavvar, who is chair of the European Respiratory Society’s Interventional Pulmonology Group, immediate past president of the European Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and a former president of the British Thoracic Society, finished his presentation by detailing further new equipment he is hoping the charity will help him bring to Preston in the near future.

Also attending the dinner were Rosemere Cancer Foundation’s chief officer Dan Hill and Blackburn artist Kulsoom, who co-ordinated the stalls and led a team of volunteers to ensure the event’s smooth running. Among the volunteers was her seven-year-old son Nazir.

Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients from throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria being treated at Rosemere Cancer Centre, Lancashire and South Cumbria’s specialist regional cancer treatment and radiotherapy centre at the Royal Preston Hospital, and at another eight local hospital cancer units across the two counties.

The charity funds items beyond NHS means such as clinical research, staff training, innovative services and cutting edge equipment such as EBUS, a flexible endobronchial ultrasound system used to diagnose early lung cancer.

When funded initially by Rosemere Cancer Foundation for Professor Munavvar in 2005 and then upgraded by the charity in 2014 with a second generation system, the Royal Preston Hospital became the first hospital both times (NHS or private) in the whole of the UK to have the equipment. For further information on Rosemere Cancer Foundation’s work click here.