The parents of a young boy who lost his life to a glioblastoma (GBM) have shared their family’s story this GBM Awareness Week to raise the profile of this devastating disease. 

A GBM “robbed” Jo and Sam Williams of watching their beloved son, Ben, grow up. He was just six when he died in May 2019, 14 months after he was diagnosed. 

In the year that they should have been celebrating Ben’s 10^th birthday, his parents are working with Brain Tumour Research to help drive awareness and funding towards research to eventually find a cure for the disease. 

Jo, also mum to Lydia, seven, and Reuben, two, said: “Ben was denied his future, a long life. We were robbed of the joy of seeing our beautiful boy grow up because of a disease that is at the moment, ahead of the science. This must change.” 

Millions have now read Ben’s story as it has been shared widely including on Sky News, with Jo explaining why she is backing our petition calling for increased investment in research funding.  

She said: “With the pandemic we have seen what can be achieved when research is prioritised and properly funded. It is not acceptable that so little is spent on brain tumour research when it has the most devastating survival rates. It is time for some hope for those facing GBM, too many lives have already been lost to this horrifying disease, the stories all too often tragically similar.” 

Find out more and sign our petition now: www.braintumourresearch.org/petition 

Related reading: 

• Ben’s story 
• Parents robbed of seeing 'beautiful son' grow up on Sky News 
• How we are working to find a cure for GBM

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