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Search forCancer research stolen from Bristol hospital flat
Thursday, November 20, 2008, 19:01
Tom Chapman, a specialist registrar in plastic surgery at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, has spent several years looking at ways to stop skin cancer spreading and becoming deadly and said he was finally getting somewhere.
Most of his findings were stored on a laptop which he kept in his staff flat at the hospital residences. The 35-year-old was horrified when he returned home from surgery to find his flat had been broken into.
He said: "Somebody broke into my flat and took a few things, including my car, but most importantly they took my laptop.
"It's four years old, the speakers don't work and there's a crack in the screen. It is probably worth about £5, but there's a lot of research information on there."
Mr Chapman's project looks at growth factors in the spread of melanoma, commonly known as skin cancer. His research looks at why the cancer, which starts off on the outside of the skin, spreads further into the body and eventually into organs.
He hopes that by discovering why this happens, doctors will be able to stop it and ultimately prevent skin cancer becoming terminal. Mr Chapman, who has previously worked with experts at the University of Bristol, said: "It was all coming together and it's just caught me at the worst time. I have backed up bits, but not all of it.
"The car does not matter, it was a blue 10-year-old Volvo Estate, and I can replace the other things, like the iPod, but if I don't get this data back it could set me back years.
"No matter how many people you have working on a project like this, it's something which just can't be replicated overnight."
Much of the information came from looking at skin cancer cells from patients, but Mr Chapman said no patients' personal data was stored on the black and silver Compaq computer.
Mr Chapman has reported the crime, which happened on Tuesday, to the police.
But he wanted to make a personal plea for the safe return of the data. "I just hope that somebody recognises that it does not have any intrinsic value, but the information is worth so much to me and potentially to thousands of people who suffer with skin cancer.
"It's not going to do anybody any good by being thrown away or wiped."
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said it was investigating but no arrests had been made and the car, registration number V245 MOH, had not been found.
A spokesman for Frenchay Hospital said security had been stepped up since the burglary, which was the second break-in this month. They have added extra locks to doors and asked staff to be extra vigilant.
Anyone with any information about the stolen laptop, which was stored in a leather brown briefcase with some papers on skin cancer, is asked to call the police on 0845 456 7000 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
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