We are The Christie magazine March 2025 Staff edition

Ben Heyworth, Survivorship Network Manager Over the past decade, Ben has produced and performed music as This Morning Call with releases exploring the wide spectrum of electronic music. He recently played a charity fundraiser with the band Minorplanet, raising £1,500 for Move Against Cancer. Ben will soon visit Blueprint Studios in Salford to record a brand new, acoustic, singer-songwriter EP, which is set to be released later this year.

“Pushingmy limits, both professionally and physically, is what drives me every day”

Thomas Reading, Clinical Lead Physiotherapist

When Tom isn't at work, he's passionate about fitness, competing and marathon running. Last year, he and his partner qualified for the HYROX World Championships, placing 12th in the world, an incredible achievement. Now, he’s setting his sights on a new challenge, running the London Marathon in under three hours, while raising funds for the Huntington’s Disease Association.

“Music is a huge part of my life, and being able to use it to support good causes makes it even more rewarding”

Alistair Reid-Pearson, Chief Information Officer “I’m an indie author going on wild adventures through a dystopian future filled with crazy characters"

“My work now focuses more broadly on experiences of illness and recovery”

Isabelle Byrne, Research Assistant Isabelle is a research assistant in our blood cancer trials department. “Being a cancer survivor myself, I have always wanted to work within oncology,” she says. Outside of work, Isabelle is a published poet, award-winning short filmmaker and spoken word artist. Her debut poetry pamphlet, Pandora’s Ruin details Isabelle’s mental health journey during treatment and was selected for the British Library’s collection. Isabelle also performs spoken word on the Manchester scene and festivals across the country. She wants to use her creative voice to explore powerful, often personal themes.

Under the pen name ‘AJ Bywater’ Alistair released his debut novel, BitBob: Artificial Earth, last year. The book explores truth, reality and humanity through a dystopian lens and has just been nominated as a finalist in the Wishing Shelf awards. "I’m also excited to share that book two in the series is almost finished.”

Amelia Cargo, Communications Officer As a teenager, Amelia's school choir was invited to perform at the funeral of

“I like to tell people that I’ve had a hit single without any context. It never fails to disappoint”

Manchester United legend, George Best. They were backing vocals for local singer Brian Kennedy, and the song was later released as a charity single – reaching number three in the charts.

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