A patient taking part in a clinical trial at a unit funded by Cancer Research UK's Race for Life will start this year's event at Marlborough College on June 3.

As the national sales manager of a leading pharmaceutical company Philip Duncombe's job involved selling drugs to the medical profession.

He used the results from clinical trials on patients to demonstrate to health care professionals the benefits the drugs could offer.

Philip, from Oxfordshire, has now come full circle and is currently getting the benefit of a clinical trial himself at the Cancer Research UK Medical Oncology Unit at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, after being diagnosed with cancer.

More than 800,000 women are expected to raise £60 million this year towards the charity's scientists, doctors and nurses who work to find new treatments for people like Mr Dunscombe.

His wife, Sue, is among them. She raised £1,400 within 24 hours of entering the Marlborough Race for Life and hopes the total could reach £2,500.

After his father died from prostate cancer, Mr Dunscombe, 54, was advised to have a routine blood test which in Christmas 2004 signalled a problem.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few weeks later. His prostate was removed at the Churchill Hospital in May 2005 and after six months the operation appeared to have been successful.

However, the cancer returned and spread to a lymph node. He decided to enter a clinical trial in January this year and is receiving vaccine gene therapy under consultant clinician, Dr Andrew Protheroe, a world class scientist conducting research into new treatments at the unit.

Mr Dunscombe said: "I am patient number 415 in the world. There are only a few people in the UK taking the vaccine and I was the first in Oxford."

He is half way through 13 treatments which involve him spending one day every fortnight in the Medical Oncology Unit.

The unit receives just part of the £15million Cancer Research UK spends in Oxford each year on research.

He said: "It is very labour intensive to conduct a clinical trial and the staff in the unit are fantastic. The results so far are encouraging.

"At the end of the trial I will be monitored and if the results are good, I will continue to receive a maintenance dose of the vaccine every month.

"I only realised when I came into the unit how many people have cancer. It affects many, many people and their families.

"But I am very positive about this treatment. There is so much research being done into cancer, I hope that if this doesn't work, something else will be round the corner.

"When you are my age, you will try anything. I am only 54. My father died when he was 72. If I could reach 72, that would be absolutely fantastic.

"Taking part in the trial has allowed me to live my life to the full. Cancer is a battle people try to win and I am fighting all the way to win.

"If one thing fails I will try something else. Being a cancer patient is not like anything else. There are highs and lows. It is an emotional roller coaster ride."

Two thousand women are expected to take part in the Marlborough Race for Life at Marlborough College on June 3 to raise around £135,000 for Cancer Research UK. There are only a few places left to fill.

Hannah Davies, the Marlborough Race for Life organiser, said "Nobody who has heard Philip's story could fail to be moved by his courage as he battles cancer.

"Stories like Philip's are even more reason for the every woman taking part this year to get going with their fundraising so we can smash our targets for funding the vital work of Cancer Research UK.

"One of the easiest ways to fundraise is to set up your online sponsorship page. Visit www.raceforlifesponsorme.org to find out more."

For more information or to enter Cancer Research UK's Race for Life log on to www.raceforlife.org or call the hotline on 08705 134 314.