INTERNATIONAL. Travel retail and aviation sector reaction to The Moodie Davitt Report’s forthcoming #KickCancerThon has been extraordinarily supportive, with brands, retailers, airports, agencies, other industry stakeholders and fellow travel retail media (Travel Markets Insider, TRunblocked, TRBusiness) all offering their support.
To recap, #KickCancerThon is a global but localised fundraiser and visibility campaign for cancer research.
KickCancerThon is the joint brainchild of Sinead Moodie, The Moodie Davitt Report’s Chief Operating Officer, and her father and company Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie.
As revealed in her recent Blog, which has attracted a phenomenal readership in the tens of thousands both direct and via LinkedIn, Sinead has been diagnosed with Stage 4 NUT Carcinoma Lung Cancer, an ultra-rare, very aggressive variant of the disease.
A non-smoker her whole life, Sinead is just 40, has loving children of 5 and 2, and a devoted husband, Adrian {main story continues following the panel below}.
How to participate in #KickCancerThon
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In that Blog, Sinead wrote movingly: “If my talking about my illness can result in even one person having their cancer detected earlier or one person being saved or we can raise money for new treatment options for people in my position, then at least something good will come from all this bad. Cancer may not believe in karma, but I will make my own.”
And so #KickCancerThon was born. We are asking the travel retail and aviation communities to join us in raising funds and visibility for cancer research or cancer treatment causes around the world.
It is a classic ‘Think Global, Act Local’ initiative.
The Moodie Davitt Report will profile each team and each chosen cancer cause as well as donating generously to our chosen beneficiary, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity (for which we are creating a dedicated fundraising page) in the UK (Sinead is being treated with consummate care and skill by The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, where Martin Moodie was treated in 2010 and 2011).
Waving a magic WandAnd how about this contribution from Ian Kay, Operations Director at Wand Technology, an Israeli company which uses technology to help airlines, airports and travel retailers to grow ancillary revenues, especially in the lounge space?
Sophie painted this beautiful artpiece and donated it for auction at a charity dinner, subsequently raising £2.5k (US$3.3k) for lung cancer research. The brilliantly talented young artist has offered to paint a second work for #KickCancerThon and Ian and Wand Technology have kindly submitted the first £1k (US$1.3k) guaranteed bid. Such generosity must be echoed, and Martin Moodie has today personally raised the bid to £1.3k (US$1.7k). Any further bids (which will go a cancer cause of your choice) can be tabled to him at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com UPDATE 17.11.25: The Moodie Davitt Report Publisher Irene Revilla has just raised the bid to US$2k.
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Ian’s daughter 
Unlike a traditional marathon, which is an individual sport run over 42.195 kilometres (26 miles & 385 yards), #KickCancerThon can be performed in teams of any size and can involve any means of athletic (or non-athletic) endeavour – running or walking, of course, but also swimming, rowing, cycling, dog-walking, skiing, roller-skating, sailing, surfing, sky diving, etc. Heck, you name it.
And, as with The Moodie Multi-National Marathons of the past (see images below), we encourage teams to participate in Instagrammable locations around the world and in suitable attire that reflects the passion, vibrancy and multi-national spirit of our industry.
Announcing #KickCancerThon last month, Sinead said: “I am so thankful to everyone in the industry who has sent me messages of support either directly or through my Dad, especially those who are going through this horrible journey themselves or with loved ones.
“I know that together we will be able to raise a huge amount of awareness and funds for cancer charities around the world and I am so proud and thankful to my colleagues for organising The Moodie Davitt #KickCancerThon. We will raise awareness, we will support each other, and we will kick cancer!”
One in five people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime while a far higher number will be affected by the disease impacting friends or family.
And cancer is on the rise. Over 28 million new cancer cases are predicted annually by the year 2040, representing a significant increase from the estimated 20 million in 2022.
However, thanks to medical research, survival rates are constantly improving too. For that research to be sustained, funding and visibility are critical. Please join us in the fight. ✈
