A van-tastic donation!

Dr Tze Wah, consultant interventional radiologist (left), receives a cheque for £68,000 from the Wilby family (from left) Caravan Guard directors Louise Menzies and Sally Crofts, managing director Ryan Wilby, chairman Peter Wilby and his wife Nora. With them are Peter McWilliam, trustee of Leeds Hospitals Charitable Foundation, and Sheila O’Shea, Yorkshire Cancer Centre fundraising director A MASSIVE cancer appeal has come to a premature end ... after a Calderdale firm provided a whopping £68,000.

Insurance company Caravan Guard has helped to fund a pioneering new cancer treatment at the Yorkshire Cancer Centre.

The family-run firm met the shortfall needed to pay for a Nano-Knife device, which uses revolutionary non-invasive technology for cancer patients.

Yorkshire Cancer Centre – which takes patients from Huddersfield – launched a £160,000 appeal to fund the Nano-Knife for patients at the Leeds Cancer Centre in April this year so they could offer an alternative treatment when invasive surgery was not possible.

Peter Wilby, chairman of Halifax-based Caravan Guard and its sister company Wilby Ltd, heard of the appeal from a close family friend whose wife and son have both received treatment at the Leeds Cancer Centre, at St James’s Institute of Oncology.

Their son was successfully treated for a brain tumour a few years ago and worked for Caravan Guard during his rehabilitation. His mum is currently a patient at the centre.

The Nano-Knife is used to destroy inoperable tumours in the lungs, kidney, breast, prostate and pancreas. The revolutionary procedure uses special needles to fire electrical pulses into the cancer cell walls, destroying tumours.

Caravan Guard managing director Ryan Wilby said: “This appeal struck a real chord with us as we’ve seen first-hand the benefits of treatment at the cancer centre.”