Grand National winner continues to champion cancer research

Eighteen months before Bob Champion won the Grand National in 1981, he was told he only had four months to live after being diagnosed with testicular cancer which had spread to his lungs.

Since then, Champion, who lives in Newmarket, Suffolk, has raised more than £17m through his cancer trust, which he established in 1983.

After undergoing treatment for bladder cancer earlier this year, he is determined to continue fundraising for cancer research.

Champion told BBC Look East: “I’m not saying we are going to cure all cancers but we are prolonging people’s lives in a better way and hopefully one day we will eradicate cancer in some sort of way.”

The 78-year-old said that while he was not as fit as he was at 21, he was on top of his health and thankful his bladder cancer had been caught early.

However, 47 years ago when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, Champion said he “left it a little too late”.

“They gave me four months to live,” he added. “It wasn’t a nice thought but [I thought] I’ll carry on riding and with a bit of luck I’ll get killed on the racecourse.”

Champion went on to win the Grand National on Aldaniti at Aintree following his cancer diagnosis [Willie Smith/BBC]

Champion underwent a number of operations and six months of chemotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital and went on to win at Aintree on Aldaniti.

His journey to victory in the Grand National was depicted in the feature film Champions where he was portrayed by John Hurt.

In 2011 Champion was given the Helen Rollason Award for the outstanding achievement in the face of adversity at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

He continues to turn the same drive and tenacity to fundraising for cancer research at the Bob Champion Research and Education Building, which opened on the Norwich Research Park in Norfolk in 2015.

“Places like this mean an awful lot to me, we know we are doing good,” he said.

Professor Colin Cooper has been working on tests for aggressive forms of prostate cancer at the Bob Champion Research and Education Building [Shaun Whitmore/BBC]

Colin Cooper, a professor of cancer genetics at the University of East Anglia, is one of the people leading research at the centre.

His group works on prostate cancer and he said their research has been progressing for a long time and leading to “exciting results”.

The work is focused around identifying which types of prostate cancer are aggressive and need dealing with sooner and ones which are not so men can avoid the side effects of treatment.

Champion (right) is urging more people to go and see a doctor as soon as they notice any changes in their health [Shaun Whitmore/BBC]

Cooper is awaiting accreditation for a urine test which would identify the probability of an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He hopes to have it rolled out within a year.

However, Champion’s message now is simple: Get checked as soon as possible.

“The most important thing, I think, is people leave it a bit too late. When you feel something is wrong go and see a doctor… the earlier you can catch any disease, even the flu, you get on top of it,” he said.

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