The island’s endoscopy nurses have raised money for a local lung cancer charity.

They collected £1,501.41 for Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation Isle of Man by taking part in the 2023 World Championship Viking Longboat Races.

Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is the leading UK lung cancer charity, helping people affected by the disease, and the Isle of Man charity was established just before Covid in 2020.

Trudi Hudson, fundraising and support officer, said: ‘It’s fantastic, we’re absolutely delighted that the team from endoscopy at Noble’s really pulled together, and did the Viking Longboat Races, which is no mean feat, it’s physically challenging and we’re just so please they chose to support us.

‘There’s such a wealth of charities on the Isle of Man that can be supported so for them to choose us, we were absolutely delighted.’

Lisa Riley, endoscopy nurse, said: ‘We’ve supported other charities in the past, and we just thought it was time for something else.

‘It was my manager’s idea initially [to take part in the longboat races]. We did try and do it last year but we were a bit late with our entry.

‘We kept saying we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it, and then we decided what charity we were going to do it for, I spoke to Trudi and it all fell together then.

‘It was really good, we didn’t come first but we didn’t come last either, all the girls really enjoyed it and we’re going to do it next year as well!’

Trudi added that the importance of the charity on the island was undervalued.

She said: ‘We’re trying to raise awareness of lung cancer. The very wide-ranging symptoms can seem unharmful at the time but people should be mindful to know to put everything together and go see their GP.

‘We offer support for patients who’ve been diagnosed and offer a lung cancer connect service. It’s a service that we set up last year that will support people through, from diagnosis and treatment to end of life. We don’t deal with anything medical in that. It is purely to help people practically, emotionally and financially, so they can contact us for anything they may need.

‘Obviously, there’s a fundraising side that funds that service and also a lot of our money stays in the island but we do spend some of it on research because that’s a big part of the charities history.

‘Last year alone we had six new treatments come out into market and are being used, so it’s money well spent.’

Those looking to contact the lung cancer charity can do so by contacting Trudi on 424155 or [email protected]