Bradford University’s Chancellor Imran Khan has two personal reasons for backing the Telegraph & Argus Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal.

The former Pakistan cricket captain politician lost his mother, Shaukat Khanum, to the disease in 1985.

He also opened the University’s £10 million Institute of Cancer Therapeutics (ICT), which will benefit from the £1 million we hope to raise during our fundraising quest.

The T&A Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal, run with the University, Yorkshire Cancer Research and principal supporter the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust, will buy the unit a new, state-of-the-art mass spectrometer.

The cutting-edge technology will allow its scientists can carry out research into potential cancer treatments ten times faster and could hold the key to a major breakthrough, like its tumour-blasting ‘smart bomb’ therapy which made headlines around the world.

Mr Khan, who set up a hospital in memory of his mother in Lahore in 1996, said: “The Telegraph & Argus Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal is a great idea because cancer is something that effects most of humanity now.

“It’s the second biggest killer and anything which can help in cancer research, in cancer treatment, we must all contribute to.

“So the £1 million appeal by Bradford University is something I encourage everyone to participate in.

“Having a cancer hospital and cancer research centre in Lahore, I know the importance of the advancements in cancer treatments and know lives of cancer patients have changed in the past 20 years.

“It’s a great initiative and I hope it’s successful.”