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North Londoner goes underground for 269 station fundraiser for cancer charity
Michael Fialko travels to (almost) every tube station in 19 hour challenge
January 17, 2020 10:29
Michael Fialko travels to (almost) every tube station in 19 hour challenge
January 17, 2020 10:29An Edgware and Hendon Reform congregant spent 19 hours travelling to (almost) every station on the London Underground to raise more than £20,000 for ovarian cancer research.
Starting just after 5am, 72-year-old Michael Fialko passed through 269 of the 270 stations, accompanied along the route by friends and family, finishing “sometime after midnight”.
Heathrow Terminal Four was the missing station — the connecting loop was shut when he reached Acton Town.
The challenge had appealed “because I’m a Londoner, I know the underground [and] quite liked travelling around on it when I was a child”.
He started planning it after his wife Pam died from ovarian cancer last January and the proceeds will go towards an immunotherapy research project at the University of Cambridge.
Pam lived on for six years after being diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer — just five per cent of UK women diagnosed with stage four survive for more than five years.
“My wife was extraordinary in the fact that she was able to deal with the chemotherapy very well,” Mr Fialko told the JC.
After five cycles of chemotherapy and some clinical trials, doctors ran out of treatments for Pam.
“Don’t ever say that she lost the battle against cancer. I hate the phrase and it’s demeaning to the patients. The patient has little control over what happens. They don’t fight a battle. The people that are fighting the battle are the research workers and the doctors.
“People say ‘be positive’. Well I’m positive about the weeds not growing in my garden but they still grow.
“What you have to focus on at each stage of the treatment is finding any means you can to maximise and optimise the patient’s outcome.”
You can find Michael's JustGiving page here.
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