A DUDLEY cancer survivor is starring in a charity's campaign to highlight how legacy giving can save lives.

Adrian Webb, who defied the odds and beat skin cancer, features on Cancer Research UK's website to support the ‘Write an end to cancer’ awareness drive.

The 51-year-old boxercise enthusiast is living proof that more people are beating cancer than ever before, thanks to treatments the charity has helped to develop.

Now, he is encouraging people to leave a lasting gift for future generations by including a donation to the charity in their will.

Gifts left in wills fund more than a third of the charity's pioneering work, helping to turn discoveries made in the lab into better treatments for patients across the UK.

Adrian, father to 20-year-old Amelia and Joshua, aged 23, was diagnosed with advanced skin cancer in 2012 after his wife Michelle noticed a mole on his back had changed colour.

He said: “The doctors said my wife probably saved my life because she insisted I went to the doctors. I simply wouldn’t have gone under my own steam. They removed the mole immediately and I remember sitting by myself in my office at work when I got a horrible call from the GP saying 'we’ve got some bad news'."

He continued: “In April 2013, the consultant said I might have as little as 12 months left. I blubbed like a two-year-old because I thought it was all over. The next two months were the lowest of my life. Once I’d stopped blubbing I said ‘OK, what options do I have?’ That’s when they said that there might be a clinical trial I could join.”

Halesowen News:

                                                              Adrian Webb and his son Josh

Adrian’s cancer had spread to his lungs, spleen, bowel, liver, back, and spine - but after treatment with trial drugs it had shrunk to a trace.

He added: “By leaving a gift in their will – no matter how big or small the donation – people in Dudley can give many more families like mine the incredible gift of hope.

“I’m so grateful for the treatment that saved my life. Success stories like mine would not be possible without Cancer Research UK’s work, which in turn relies on everyone who donates much needed funds.

"If it wasn’t for kind, generous people leaving gifts in their will, I wouldn’t be living my life now, or be able to be a grandfather in the future, or see my daughter get married.

"I’m living proof that, through research, we’re winning. The more money we can get the more clinical trials we can fund.”

Cancer Research UK researchers discovered a faulty gene in skin cancer that underpinned the development of promising new targeted treatments for skin cancer, such as the treatment that has shown such remarkable results with Adrian.

Today, 9 in 10 people diagnosed with malignant melanoma survive their disease for ten years or more. Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of this progress, but there is much more to do. Gifts in Wills help research drugs, discover what drives cancer to grow, and find new ways to detect cancer at an early stage, helping save lives like Adrian’s.

Jane Redman, the charity's representative for Dudley, said: “Today half of all people diagnosed with cancer will survive - but half is not enough.

“There are around 200 types of cancer and we won’t stop until we find cures for them all. That’s why we’re grateful to Adrian for helping to raise vital awareness.

“We hope his story inspires as many people as possible to consider leaving a legacy gift to the charity. They make long-term research and pioneering trials possible, leading to new tests, kinder treatments and cures, which will help us to beat cancer sooner."

As well as traditional sums of money, a range of diverse and unique things have been left to the charity in wills, from book royalties to a stuffed parrot, a surfboard and a collection of 2,500 model buses and lorries.

For more information about leaving a gift in a will, visit cruk.org/WriteAnEnd or call 0800 035 9000.