Wooden Dalek Becomes a Fundraising Symbol After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
A retired carpenter in Leeds has turned a lifelong passion for woodworking and Doctor Who into a striking fundraiser for cancer research. Martin Williams built a full-sized, 5ft Dalek from reclaimed pitch pine and named it Rustic, with the sculpture set to be auctioned to support Yorkshire Cancer Research.
The project carries a personal weight that runs far beyond fan memorabilia. Williams was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2020 after a routine pre-operative blood test revealed abnormal kidney function linked to an enlarged prostate. He was told to go straight to the emergency department at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, where further investigation led to the cancer diagnosis.
His story sits at the intersection of late discovery, urgent renal compromise, and the slower but more durable gains that modern oncology can now deliver. Williams’ kidneys had stopped functioning properly because of the enlarged prostate, a reminder that prostate cancer can present indirectly, through obstruction and systemic consequences rather than obvious early symptoms.
From Workshop Project to Charity Auction
Williams had already imagined the sculpture before he began cutting wood. He recognised the Dalek’s shape as the kind of form that could be recreated in timber, and he selected the material with precision. The finished piece was built in his workshop at the bottom of his garden, using reclaimed pitch pine, some of which he said may be more than 1,000 years old.
The material choice gives Rustic a second layer of meaning. Reclaimed wood carries a sense of survival, repurposing and durability — qualities often associated with patients who move through prolonged cancer treatment and later adapt again when disease returns. Williams’ workshop became a place where those themes were made physical, one join and panel at a time.
One sentence captures the abrupt shift in his life: the man who had planned a hernia operation instead left hospital pathways with a diagnosis of advanced cancer.
Despite receiving hormone treatment and 22 rounds of radiotherapy, Williams spent countless hours completing the sculpture. The charity expects it to be sold at auction next year, ahead of Yorkshire Cancer Research’s 2027 Gala Dinner.
Why the Auction Matters for Cancer Research in Yorkshire
Yorkshire Cancer Research said the funds will help support work to find new and better ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer in Yorkshire. The charity’s fundraising director, Neil Preston, described Williams’ creativity and effort as an extraordinary example of how people in the region go above and beyond to support that mission.
The clinical logic behind that fundraising is direct. Prostate cancer remains a disease where earlier detection, more precise risk stratification and better treatment selection can alter outcomes, especially when disease is caught before it spreads widely. Research funding does not replace treatment, but it helps build the evidence base that determines which patients benefit from hormone therapy, radiotherapy and newer approaches, and when those therapies should be introduced.
Williams’ own treatment path reflects that reality. Hormone therapy can suppress androgen-driven tumour growth, while radiotherapy aims to control local disease or reduce burden in selected settings. When disease is advanced, the aim is often to extend survival, slow progression and preserve day-to-day functioning as long as possible. His statement that he feels lucky to still be here reflects a clinical truth many families know well: modern therapy can buy time, but it usually does so at a cost of fatigue and other side effects.
Recurrence Brings the Story Back to the Bedside
In November 2025, Williams learned that his cancer had returned. He said it had spread into his lymph nodes and bones, with tiring side effects making the treatment harder to tolerate. Bone and nodal spread mark a more serious phase of prostate cancer, and the disease can become a long-term condition requiring repeated reassessment, symptom control and careful balancing of benefit against toxicity.
The return of disease also gives his fundraiser a sharper edge. Rustic is no longer just a tribute to a television universe or a display of craftsmanship. It stands beside the realities of metastatic spread, persistent symptom burden and the need for research that can improve both length and quality of life.
Williams’ gratitude is rooted in the progress made over the last two decades. He said that 20 years ago he would not have been able to benefit from this treatment. Even without specifying the exact regimen, the point is clinically important: outcomes in advanced prostate cancer have improved because androgen suppression, radiotherapy planning and broader oncology care have become more sophisticated and more accessible than they were in earlier eras.
A Personal Object With a Public Purpose
A childhood or lifelong hobby can sometimes become a vehicle for public health, and Rustic fits that pattern exactly. The sculpture was inspired in part by a small Dalek figurine already sitting in Williams’ workshop, but the final piece carries the much larger meaning of someone working through illness while still giving back to the community that shaped him.
His hands built the Dalek. His diagnosis gave it urgency.
The charity auction now links a deeply personal cancer journey to a practical goal: raising money for research that could improve prevention, detection and treatment across Yorkshire. For patients with prostate cancer, the value of that work is not abstract. It determines how quickly disease is found, how accurately it is staged, and how effectively it is treated when it returns after initial therapy.
Williams’ sculpture will be sold next year, but the clinical story behind it is still unfolding. His case is a reminder that advanced disease can recur after treatment, that current therapies can still offer meaningful time, and that research remains essential when the disease moves from local control to spread in the lymph nodes and bones.