A 20-YEAR-OLD student from Claverdon who had major thyroid surgery in primary school to avoid being struck down with a hereditary form of cancer is lacing up his running shoes for charity.
Harry Bromwich will take on the Oxford Half Marathon in October to raise funds for the Get A-Head Charitable Trust, which supports people with head and neck diseases, particularly cancer.
Harry and his family have a long association with the Midlands-founded charity after it supported his father, Edward, through his battle with a rare form of thyroid cancer.
The charity, which is now chaired by Edward’s identical twin brother, Tom Bromwich, also played a vital role in funding research which led to the discovery of the faulty gene responsible for causing the cancer.
Harry explained that because of the hereditary nature of his dad’s cancer, it meant his uncle Tom had to have his thyroid gland removed as a preventative measure. It also meant that he and his sister had to have their thyroid removed at a young age and so did his three cousins.
He continued: “Back then there was no simple way to determine whether we also shared the faulty gene so we had to undergo a series of rather unpleasant tests, and it was eventually decided by our parents, along with doctors, that it would be best for us all to have surgery to remove our thyroid gland as a preventative measure.
“I don’t remember a huge amount about the operation other than spending a few days recovering in Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital and I was too young really to understand what it all meant.
“However, now that I’m older, I obviously have a much better understanding about why it was so important for us to have the surgery.
“On a much wider scale however, the research funded by Get A-Head means that a simple blood test has now been developed which will determine whether anyone else in our family or anywhere else in the world has the faulty gene responsible for causing familial medullary thyroid carcinoma.”
Harry is now in his final year at Oxford Brookes University studying real estate.
It will be the first time he has attempted a half marathon but has been training hard all summer.
To donate visit https://shorturl.at/0gP8l
