A man diagnosed with cancer who went on to help raise £500,000 for fellow sufferers with prostate cancer in Leicestershire has won a £3,000 Leicestershire First Award for volunteering. Stuart Berry was presented with the prize at half-time on Saturday [March 21] on the Walkers Stadium pitch by Foxes legend Alan Birchenall.
Stuart Berry started volunteering in 2004 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and receiving the first stages of his treatment. Initially he started to fundraise for the UHL NHS Charitable Appeals Department for a less invasive treatment called cryosurgery for prostate cancer which is now available at Leicester General Hospital. He then helped establish a local charity, PROSTaid, in 2006.
PROSTaid - www.prostaid.co.uk - was set up to help improve the treatment and care of local men and their families living with prostate cancer. Stuart and his colleagues work tirelessly to raise public awareness of the disease so that men are more able to spot early symptoms. The charity also created a much needed support network for sufferers in Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire.
Stuart’s active fundraising for PROSTaid has not only secured vital specialist medical equipment for local hospitals but it has funded a specialist prostate cancer nurse post at Leicester General Hospital (LGH), and provided specialist medical training. Together with colleagues he regularly organises successful fundraising events for the charity and he also co-ordinates the vital befriending service run by PROSTaid along with the male cancer nurse based at LGH. He gives his emotional support and advice to patients based on his own experience of fighting prostate cancer.
Stuart will donate his £3,000 prize from Leicestershire First to PROSTaid to help fund its invaluable work in the Leicestershire community. Stuart, a director and trustee of PROSTaid, said the charity is committed to help fund brachytherapy radiation treatment, laparoscopic (‘keyhole’) surgery and also actively explore how the charity could fund palliative care specifically for prostate cancer patients.
Stuart, who lives at Barlestone, said: “It is a great honour to win a Leicestershire First Award and I am proud to accept it on behalf of PROSTaid. Nobody would volunteer to have cancer, but being involved with PROSTaid has enriched my life and I have met people and done things I would never have otherwise had the opportunity to do.”
Leicestershire First is a charity launched in June 2008 at County Hall by Maurice and Vivien Thompson, to encourage and celebrate giving and good citizenship. Each year nine awards will be given to reward and promote the values of leadership, excellence and citizenship in the county. For each prize the money must be donated to Leicestershire charities.
Maurice Thompson said: “We had dozens and dozens of nominations for this Volunteering Award and all those nominated are outstanding people that Leicestershire can be proud to count as citizens. Stuart’s story stands out as a wonderful example of turning adversity into achievement through a genuinely moving concern and empathy for his fellow man. Our congratulations and thanks go to him and his colleagues at PROSTaid.”
Stuart was presented with his Leicestershire First award by Leicester City hero Alan Birchenall MBE and Leicestershire First award judge Maureen Milgram Forrest on the pitch at the Walkers Stadium at half time during the Leicester City and Colchester United match on Saturday March 21.
‘Birch’, a patron of PROSTaid, said: “Leicestershire First could not have picked a more deserving winner.”
Highly commended for the Leicestershire First Volunteering Award are: Hope Against Cancer company secretary and treasurer Sheila Brucciani; Selective Mutism Information and Research Association founder and chair Alice Sluckin; and LeicestHERday Trust co-chair Marlene Suart.
Nominations for two upcoming Leicestershire First Awards – for Courage and for Achievement in Arts and Music – can be made now. For details of how to nominate, call Leicestershire First on 0116 249 5330 or visit the website www.leicestershirefirst.org.uk