HE IS a man with no time for the concept of "can't".
While the name of Professor Nick Stafford might not be familiar, his dream of putting Hull at the forefront of medical research is known by many.
Professor Stafford is the driving force behind the Daisy Appeal, one of the best-known fundraising charities in East Yorkshire.
Fourteen years after Daisy was set up, the appeal is now entering the next stage of the project, which will see patients with cancer, heart disease and neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's receive the most advanced medical care in Europe.
"When people think of well-established medical centres, they think of places like Manchester, Birmingham, London or Edinburgh," he said. "There is no reason why Hull can't be considered a leading centre, too."
Professor Stafford, a head and throat cancer specialist, came to the city in 1995 and found kindred spirits who shared his passion for medical research and development. But their vision to establish the city at the forefront of scientific advances was hampered by a lack of facilities.
"There was an awareness that we could do things that would allow us to compete with Sheffield and Leeds but we didn't have the infrastructure," he said. "We had to start somewhere."
Thanks to his passion and the support of East Yorkshire's business community and generous benefactors, the £8m Daisy Building opened at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham in 2008, supporting research, teaching and education.
But it was only the first piece of the jigsaw. The research had to be put into practice and the Jack Brignall PET-CT centre was opened earlier this year, giving 2,000 patients a year access to life-saving technology on-site, instead of the 700 who had to be scanned by equipment transported into Castle Hill on the back of a lorry.
While the opening of the centre has already making a difference to patients, Professor Stafford is not done yet.
A £3.5m drive is now under way to pay for a cyclotron, to be based in the centre to bring new scientific advances directly to the patient.
"Although that has been really good and we have got involved in a bit of research and clinical trials, there are some very exciting developments going on, particularly at the University of Hull," he said.
"I want to dip into that and bring the university and the NHS together in a programme that would combine local-based research with hospital bed-based research. "
The University of Hull already has a cyclotron where scientists under the direction of Professor Steve Archibald are developing radioactive isotopes or markers to identify the size, shape and position of cancerous tumours, allowing the more effective use of radiation therapy.
But it's not as easy as making the isotopes at the university and transporting them to Castle Hill.
While radioactive isotopes such as carbon-11 have been developed to treat patients, they have a very short "half-life", meaning half of the radioactive material would decay in just 20 minutes. By the time it was transported from the university to Castle Hill, it would be useless.
A cyclotron at Castle Hill would allow the medicine and the science to come together within minutes, with patients being the ultimate winners.
"It's translational research where we develop new markers and take them from the scientific end to the bedside and the patients," he said.
While he does his best to explain, there's nothing like the clarity offered by an example.
Patients with Alzheimer's develop what is known as "amyloid plaques" on their brain as their condition deteriorates. Doctors can use carbon-11 isotopes to understand how advanced the condition is in a patient.
With new treatment expected to be developed within two years to slow or even halt the progression of the disease, doctors could use the cyclotron to identify which patients would benefit most from the treatment and whether or not it was working.
"The treatment is going to be expensive and there is no point giving it to someone with advanced disease," he said. "If we can catch it early, we could stop its progression but early diagnosis is difficult.
"A PET-CT scan is one of the things you can use but currently, the only place that does PET-CT for Alzheimer's is in Belfast."
Because of the half-life, the isotopes would have to be developed within minutes of the patient, meaning a cyclotron is needed at Castle Hill.
Professor Stafford said: "We already have the scanning centre and if we have a new cyclotron here at Castle Hill, that would give us the information as to how advanced or how early the disease was then use treatment much more objectively."
"It would put East Yorkshire right at the cutting edge of PET-CT research, not just in the UK but in Europe.
"We will be leaders in this field of scanning technology."
It's a big ambition but the benefits are obvious. Patients with Alzheimer's and their families would be given hope, Hull would be able to attract further investment after establishing itself as a world leader in the field and that, undoubtedly, would attract some of the best doctors and scientists to the area.
And the treatment of patients showing signs of Alzheimer's could only be the start. The combination of scanning and the cyclotron could open the doors to a whole new world of medical advances.
But without the support and generosity of the people of East Yorkshire, it won't happen.
"People have been fantastic," Professor Stafford said. "We've had people even raising money at funerals, asking people to donate to the Daisy Appeal instead of buying wreaths. That's part of what keeps me going.
"We are hoping the public will be as supportive of this part as they have been to date.
"Hull has been very generous and it's not just about being generous with their money, people have also been generous with their time. Many people have been so generous because they see science as a good way of putting Hull on the map."
There is no doubt that Professor Stafford won't rest until the cyclotron is up and running at Castle Hill. His passion for the project combined with his dedication to the patients on the receiving end of the scientific innovation is an unstoppable force.
For him, it's quite simple. "This project is not finished, not by any means."
Visit www.daisyappeal.org/donations to find out how you can help raise money for the next stage of the project.
