A FAMILY that's been “hit with more than their fair share of cancer” is hosting a 48 hour fishing match, ten years on and thousands of pounds later since their first event.

Ian and Victoria Palmer, from Stanmore, hosted their first ever fishing match for Cancer Research in 2012 following the loss of Ian’s sister Debbie, who died of breast cancer.

The 10th anniversary fishing event is set to take place in October with 38 anglers being sponsored to take part in the two-day match. The Palmers are hoping to raise £10,000 for the cancer charity this year to mark 10 years since they began.

Hampshire Chronicle:

The fishermen will begin at midday on Friday, October 7, at Willow Park Fishery in Aldershot. The competitors will break on Saturday afternoon for anglers and supporters to get together and take part in a raffle and auction- raising more money for Cancer Research. The match will conclude at midday on Sunday, October 9 before the trophy presentation.

This year the event will feature its biggest ever prize, a five-night fishing trip for two in Spain, as donated by Paul Schilds from On the Ebro. Other donations from local companies such Parker Baits, Angling Direct in Southampton and Tesco Winnall will be used in the raffle and auction.

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Ian has always been a keen fisher and has survived Hodgkin Lymphoma twice. His sister Debbie was 44 when she died of her second bout of breast cancer in April 2012. Mr Palmer was away fishing at the time, when he received the call from his sister that the cancer was terminal.

Hampshire Chronicle:

Ian's wife, Vicki Palmer, said: “My husband was away fishing and he thought what can I do to try and help fight cancer. And so he came up with the idea of the charity fishing match.”

The debut match in 2012, at a fishery in Ampfield, was intended to be a one off but developed into a yearly thing. The fundraising event before then became biennial in 2016 so Victoria could juggle organising with working full time. Since its beginning, the fishathon has raised around £15,000 for the cause close to the family’s hearts.

Vicki continued: “The only way there is ever going to be a cure for cancer is research and development and the only way Cancer Research can do that is with public funding because it’s entirely funded by the public and they’ve lost so much funding because of the pandemic when people couldn’t get together and do the fundraising they would usually. The only way we’re going to beat cancer completely is to support them, raise money and help them get the research by funding the scientists so they can find the cure.

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“In the last 40 years, just through Cancer Research’s scientific developments, the survival rate has doubled but they’re now saying that one in two people will have cancer and that is worrying. It’s one of these diseases that is non-discriminative, it doesn’t care about race, age or anything. It will just attack, and it will kill and that’s why it needs to be stopped. We’ve lost far too many people, at far too early an age.”

As well as Ian’s sister, the family has lost grandparents and an uncle to cancer, whilst Ian’s brother Tony who helped set up the ‘fishathon’ is currently recovering from bowel cancer treatment.

Mrs Palmer added: “It seems to have hit our family more than our fair share and we’ll do whatever we can to help.”

2022 match tickets are now sold out whilst prize-draw tickets are still available until Thursday, October 6. For more go to cast-4-life.co.uk/.

And to view the fundraising page or donate go to fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/cast-4-life-2022-48hr-fishathon.