Prostate cancer sufferer takes part in ‘100,000 Genomes’ Project to ‘give back’ to medicine
James Lycett, 68, of Sheffield, agreed to take part in the ‘100,000 Genomes Project’ being delivered by the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Genomic Medicine Centre, after undergoing a robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (the removal of the prostate using a surgeon controlled robot) to treat his prostate cancer.
James, who worked at a specialist temperature measuring company before retirement, gave consent for his blood and tissue samples to be taken. The DNA prepared from these will be sequenced, and when compared to that of other people with the same condition, may show patterns, which could help with diagnosis and treatment of patients in the future.
Of his decision to take part, James, who has also been a blood and plasmapheresis donor in the past, said: “Medicine has advanced hugely over the last 20 years or so, and part of that is down to volunteers taking part in projects such as this.
“The service I received was first class and this is one way that I had of giving something back. Having the radical prostatectomy was not an easy thing to go through, and my decision to take part in the project was really motivated by an enquiring mind and the human desire to do something that could possibly benefit other people in the future.
“I would certainly encourage other people to take part.”