VIDEO: Prince William launches campaign for Royal Marsden (From Sutton Guardian)

VIDEO: Prince William launches campaign for Royal Marsden cancer hospital

12:30pm Monday 21st January 2013 in News By Sophia Sleigh, Reporter

Prince William launches campaign for Royal Marsden cancer hospital

The Duke of Cambridge has launched an appeal in aid of the "inspirational" Royal Marsden cancer hospital in Sutton.

In a special film launched today Prince William praises the Oak Centre for Children and Young People in Sutton which he and the Duchess of Cambridge opened in September 2011.

The Duke, who is expecting his first child with Kate in July, is personally supporting the charity’s fundraising campaign - Ten10 - a decade of innovation at The Royal Marsden.

He called the Royal Marsden an “an incredible hospital” and said: “Most recently Catherine and I officially opened the wonderful Oak Centre for children and young people in Sutton - an inspirational place where young cancer patients are treated in a state-of-the-art environment and where the leading paediatric inpatient drug development programme in the UK aims to deliver new cures.”

The Duke, who is president of the Royal Marsden, is urging people to support the hospital in its attempt to raise £100 million over the next decade.

The money will ensure its work can continue to cure people and improve the quality of life for all those affected by cancer.

The year-long campaign will celebrate the last 10 years of innovation at The Royal Marsden as well as looking forward to the next 10 years of innovation and personalised medicine.

Cally Palmer, chief executive of The Royal Marsden, said she was delighted that the Duke of Cambridge agreed to take part in the film.

She said: “The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity plays a vital role in ensuring The Royal Marsden stays at the forefront of cancer research, diagnosis, treatment and care and we are extremely fortunate to have a president who is so involved and interested in everything we do from the latest technology to the care and wellbeing of patients and their families.”

Following in the footsteps of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, the Duke became president of the Royal Marsden in 2007 and has a longstanding relationship with the hospital including work experience on the Chelsea and Sutton sites.

To support The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity’s ten10 – a decade of innovation at The Royal Marsden visit http://royalmarsden.org/ten10