ALIVE Foundation donates another €90,000 for cancer research

After an absence of 2 years as due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ALIVE Charity Foundation has once again held their cycling challenge and has raised another €90,000 for cancer research undertaken by academics at the University of Malta. The funds were donated during a ceremony held at the Biomedical Labs at the University of Malta.

Set up in 2013, the ALIVE Charity Foundation has to date donated around €700,000 for cancer research, which funds have supported a number of PhD and Masters scholarships and an additional seven specific research projects, some of which are still ongoing.

During the donation ceremony, Prof. Christian Scerri, on behalf of the cancer research teams at the University of Malta, gave an overview of how the money received from the Foundation has been utilised so far.

Nicky Camilleri, Chairperson of ALIVE Charity Foundation spoke about the determination of the NGO to continue to support cancer research, in the hope that one day we could be able to live a better quality of life. He went on to describe how Cancer is a reality that affects us all, albeit to different extents. For some, it is a light brush, but for the vast majority, it is a hard struggle. Cancer Research provides an ongoing ray of hope to these patients, their families, friends and their communities. Raising funds to support various cancer research projects remains the main objective of the ALIVE Charity Foundation, he further said. He thanked all the cyclists who, together with the support team, had endured physical and emotional difficulties during this year’s 1000km Sicily cycling challenge so as to be able to make this happen. He also thanked their main sponsor, Dr. Juice, as for their strong support in favour of this cause.

Alfred J. Vella, Rector of the University, expressed his gratitude to the ALIVE Charity Foundation, who for the past decade have been a strong supporter of the University’s research efforts and appealed for more similar support from other sectors of the community. He stressed the importance of the Research, Innovation and Development Trust (RIDT) for brokering such synergies that significantly augment the University’s funds for research.

Also present for the donation ceremony were Parliamentary Secretary Keith Azzopardi Tanti, opposition spokesperson for education, Justin Schembri, and opposition spokesperson for research and innovation, Stanley Zammit.