Fourteen years after sitting alongside Sir Bobby Robson and helping launch the foundation which bears his name, Professor Ruth Plummer has been made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
The top oncologist, who treated Sir Bobby, remains director of the Sir Bobby Robson cancer trials research centre at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle - and she's been honoured for services to medicine throughout a pioneering career so far. Prof Plummer was a consultant looking after the legendary former Newcastle United and England football manager when, after she mentioned the need for half a million pounds to set up a clinical trials unit in the city, he declared he would help her find the cash.
This was the beginning of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation - which has raised in excess of £16m pounds since 2008. In support of Ruth's nomination for the gong, Lady Elsie Robson, Sir Bobby's wife, wrote a moving letter - and she has shared this with ChronicleLive.
Read more: How the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Centre has defied the odds during the Covid-19 crisis
In the letter, Lady Elsie wrote: "Professor Ruth Plummer was my husband’s oncologist and Bob and I trusted her judgement implicitly as she guided us through those terrible months. She is also the reason we began the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. Or, as my husband jokingly put it during one particularly dull charity legal meeting, 'This is all your fault.'"
Lady Elsie went on to highlight how it was Prof Plummer's dedication to raising £500,000 to set up the cancer trials centre which inspired her late husband to set up the charity, and said she was a "woman of tremendous empathy, courage and professionalism". She wrote that Sir Bobby had told the medic: "We’ll help get you the money. You have a day job to do."
She continued: "Ruth is the heartbeat of our Foundation. As a Trustee, she brings immense expertise and a measured approach to all our decision making. Beginning at our launch press conference, she has had to step into an unfamiliar and challenging media role and become our 'expert voice'.
"She manages to juggle her family life with an extremely demanding work schedule that takes her across the world, yet somehow still finds time to represent the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation at fundraising events, large and small. Her commitment is incredible and, with her help, we have gone on to raise over £16m to find more effective ways to detect and treat cancer."
Adding that Prof Plummer was "loved and respected" by everyone she comes into contact with, Lady Elsie said: "My husband admired Ruth greatly, as do I. As does everyone connected with the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation."
Newcastle University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Chris Day added to the tributes. He said: "I congratulate Professor Ruth Plummer for this well-deserved recognition for her dedication to raising the profile of cancer research and her instrumental role in establishing the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. This is a tribute to her outstanding service and contribution."
And Dame Jackie Daniel, chief exec of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust. added: "Professor Plummer has worked tirelessly to establish and lead the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre since it was established in 2008 and has helped it become one of the most active cancer clinical trials units in the UK.
"Ruth is an inspirational colleague who never waivers from her focus on supporting her patients and finding new knowledge to help them."
Last year, looking back on the opening of the clinical trials centre - which took place two days after Sir Bobby Robson's 76th birthday in February 2009 - Prof Plummer recalled how the team had a birthday cake for Sir Bobby, but they had had to pray the candles didn't set off the fire alarms in the new centre.
In 2017, Prof Plummer was chosen by ChronicleLive readers as one of the most inspiring people in the North East. As well as her role heading up the cancer trials centre, she is Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at Newcastle University, and an honorary consultant medical oncologist at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust..
She trained at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford before moving to Newcastle to specialise in medical oncology and cancer drug development. She became a professor in 2008 - at the same time as she was treating Sir Bobby and coming up with the plan which would become the cancer trials centre.
READ NEXT:
