My Story

I am very excited to be running the London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April this year in support of  Humanimal Trust, the charity I founded 10 years ago.

Humanimal Trust raises funds for medical research and education that helps humans and animals at the same time. For example, studies in cancer, arthritis or infection in humans and animals actually affected by these diseases and without taking an animal life in the process.  

We educate doctors, vets and the general public about how sharing medical knowledge between species can make our world vastly better. This is the philosophy of One Medicine – every patient wins; every being wins – human and animal.  

Running a marathon is much like other challenges in life ...  there are great excuses not to do ‘everything’. But I learned a long time ago that to achieve your dreams, you can’t make excuses for ‘anything’. I encourage everyone to aim high, even when your body or your circumstances don’t lend themselves to winning - you learn the most important lesson of all - YOU are all you’ve got – and your choices make you who you are. 

If I finish surgery late, and I want to run this marathon, I have to go training at midnight. I do not allow myself to think that I’m tired or it’s raining or cold. I do what needs to be done. I have always felt this way – when people told me I’d never be a specialist surgeon, I’d never be professor, I’d never have a successful TV show, I’d never contribute to more than a hundred scientific papers, I’d never build my hospital or I would never be able to fix a particular patient ... I ignored them, IF I thought that it was ‘the right thing to do’.

I absolutely feel that One Medicine is ‘the right thing to do’ for the future of both humans and animals. We need to look no further than the recent pandemic to understand that we all share the same diseases, which can have devastating consequences. So it makes absolute logical sense to study those diseases in man and animal side-by-side and to give animals a fair deal.

At the moment, doing an experiment on an animal is often the only way to get regulatory approval for safe drugs and implants for humans. Naturally we all want safe drugs and implants for humans – but remarkably, my patients cannot benefit from these same drugs and implants at the same time. Therefore cancer can be induced in an experimental animal for human benefit, yielding a drug which is great for humans and would be great for my patients, but I can’t get hold of that drug to help my patients, because nobody funded the study for the benefit of the animal.

Furthermore, the many innovations that I have brought to dogs and cats can’t automatically be used for human patients – instead, disease is induced in experimental animals and then treated with similar innovations, to learn what I already know. I exist to help animals and I believe this absence of a two-way-street is illogical and unfair. By sharing knowledge from the treatment of humans and animals naturally affected by diseases, it is possible for scientific advances to be made available to all species. Alongside this, with new technologies in biology and computing, such as ‘organ-on-chip’ and AI, eventually there should no longer be a need for experiments on animals.

That is why I set up Humanimal Trust. We need your help. And that is why I’m running the London Marathon in support of the charity. It’s the ‘right thing to do’ and it’s my ‘reason big enough.’

Most things that seem impossible can be made possible if you really want it. For me the only excuse not to run the marathon would be a severe physical disability and in my view, the only excuse not to emotionally or financially support Humanimal Trust is if you don’t feel that animals deserve a fair deal for all that they give to us. It’s certainly not all about money – it’s also about awareness. We’re very grateful for either or both. Every tiny amount of understanding or compassion can change the world for the better. And even a tiny amount of money can help our charity to change the world for the better.

With my back, knees and ankle hurting, I train my best and I do my best. With my patients hurting for want of better drugs and implants, I train my best, but sometimes I cannot do my best, because I just can’t access the best treatment for my patients. This needs to change.

I believe in my purpose and I believe in myself - even if sometimes my own body does not – and I encourage everyone to do the same. If no ‘body’ else believes in you and your potential, just keep believing in your ‘reason big enough.’  Begrudgers begone! Aim as high as you can!

And so, to mark the 10^th anniversary of the beloved charity that I founded, I’ll run, walk or crawl through a 26 mile run wearing my Humanimal t-shirt with pride!

Thank you so much for your support, it truly means so much and will be my driving force as I prepare for this challenge over the coming weeks.

Biggest love, Noel x