Archie Goodburn pleads for more funding for rare cancer research (Image: BBC)
Commonwealth Games hero Archie Goodburn broke down in tears on BBC Breakfast and made a direct plea to new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. The 25-year-old Scot has been diagnosed with a rare and inoperable cancer, after oligodendrogliomas was found on his brain.
The condition is terminal and Goodburn may not reach his fifties, but he has still chased his dream as a swimmer. He placed seventh in the 50m breaststroke final at the Commonwealth Games last week and has been hailed for his accomplishments in the pool.
He was hailed as an inspiration by his fellow athletes and featured on BBC Breakfast just days afterwards.
On Tuesday, he addressed the new Rare Cancers Bill and delivered a heart-wrenching message to new PM Burnham, making an appeal for additional investment in advancing cancer treatment across the UK.
Goodburn began to well up and shake as he asked which camera was broadcasting, before staring into the lens and sending a direct plea to Downing Street to help alleviate the “unbearable” suffering endured by brain cancer patients and their families.
He said: “So Andy Burnham, if you believe and you want to make a change and a difference to the future of our country and our young population, please listen to us. Please establish a national brain cancer lead and give us a chance to fight for our lives because honestly, the things that patients are going through out there is just unbelievable and so unjust.
“There are clinical trials around the world, in the US, in Australia, in China, that could change lives, and we are not seeing them in the UK, and it is unfair and unjust. So please, please invest and make the difference because I’m on my knees begging for not just my own life but those of my best friends and those who are affected and the families all around the country.
“This has to change. It’s been going on for too long and the suffering is unbearable. I’m sorry. The Rare Cancers Bill is not going to be enough. It is a step in the right direction, but it is not going to cover, it’s not going to make the changes we need.”
Archie Goodburn in action in the pool. (Image: Getty)
In recent years, experimental treatments have emerged with the potential to save lives. Most significantly in Goodburn’s situation was Vorasidenib, a groundbreaking therapy that enabled him to postpone the prospect of chemotherapy and keep his aspirations of competing in the pool very much alive.
Goodburn had opened by saying: “What’s frustrating, and we welcome the Rare Cancers Bill, but that Rare Cancers Bill we truly do not believe is going to be enough to make the changes.
“The Rare Cancers Bill covers 14 different types of cancers, rare cancers. Brain cancer is one of these in terms of incidents of diagnosis, but it’s not the same in terms of the number of deaths it causes. It is extremely deadly.
“Yes, it’s rare, but it’s extremely deadly. This frustrates me immensely. And the Rare Cancers Bill establishes two new positions, a clinical lead and a research lead. These two roles are part-time across 14 different types of cancers, and they accumulate to 36 days a year.
“Those two roles to cover 14 different types of cancers to try and change the landscape of treatment. I do not see how 36 days a year is going to make that change for 14 different types of cancers, let alone the most deadly type of cancer.”