THE TENOVUS STORY
The last of the original Ten-of-us passes away
Eddie Price, the founding father of Tenovus, passed away earlier this year 2003, a few weeks after his 91st birthday. After a remarkable life, Eddie (Thomas John Edward) Price leaves behind the legacy of a charity that grew from small local activities to gain a worldwide reputation in the field of cancer research and patient support. Eddie spent his life in the transport and haulage industry. He was born in Abertillery, Monmouthshire and was a son of a haulage contractor. By the age of 22, in 1932, he had developed his father’s horse and cart Company into a one-lorry haulage firm.
By the outbreak of World War Two, he already had seven vehicles. His contribution to the development of the haulage business grew over the years, and Eddie remained a highly influential and respected figure within the industry. This contribution and support was recognised by his peers when they celebrated his 90th birthday by raising funds for his beloved charity.
During the war, Eddie suffered serious injuries whilst loading a Ministry of Defence lathe onto a lorry. Eddie spent the next 10 days unconscious in Cardiff Royal Infirmary. When he regained consciousness, nine of his friends gathered round his bedside and decided to help by providing him with a radio headset. Then they realised that other patients could also be helped in the same way and set out to raise more funds. They equipped all the beds in the Cardiff Royal Infirmary with radio headsets as a gesture of appreciation for the excellent treatment Eddie had received, and realised they were now acting as a form of charity.
With all of the businessmen sitting around the bed one day, one of them famously commented: `Well, there are nine of us around this bed and it looks like the old so-and-so is going to get better, so why not call our selves the Ten-of-us?’
The original Ten-of-us; Eddie Price is circled
This was the birth of the charity. From that day, the name Tenovus has become synonymous with fine charitable deeds such as building Cardiff House, a drop-in centre for ex-servicemen who fought in the Burma War, the Sunshine Home for Blind Babies in Southerndown, and a fully equipped spina bifida unit in Cardiff, the first of its kind in the world.
By 1964, the charity, still with Eddie as a leading contributor, decided to focus its efforts on cancer research, and establish the Tenovus Institute for Cancer research at the Heath Hospital in Cardiff. Work at the Tenovus Institute has included the development of Tamoxifen, the anti-breast cancer drug now proven to have saved the lives of over 20,000 women. The development of Zoldex, for patients with prostate cancer, followed. Today the research work on breast and prostate cancer continues in our new laboratories at the Welsh School of Pharmacy in Cardiff, as well as our other research programmes in laboratories in Cardiff, Southampton, Bournemouth and Liverpool.
Eddie Price continued to support the work of the charity right until his death. Just a week before he suffered a stroke, he was cheerfully contributing to a new Tenovus fundraising video, which will mark the charity’s 60th anniversary in 2003.
Eddie Price pictured with Tenovus chief executive Marc Phillips at a fund raising dinner
`Eddie was a truly remarkable man in everything he did’ said Tenovus chairman, Eamon O’leary. `He was such a huge driving force behind the success of his own business and behind the early development of Tenovus. He remained a highly influential figure within the charity until the very last moment, and will be greatly missed by all those who knew him. His legacy, a lasting memorial to his life’s work, is a dedicated charity that continues to help anyone affected by cancer’ Eddie was the last survivor of the original ten south Wales businessmen that were the original `ten-of-us.