A memorial to a blogger who died the day before her dream wedding has been placed at a research centre where scientists are dedicated to finding a cure for brain tumours.

Anna Swabey, 25, launched her blog Inside my Head after she found out she had a rare grade three malignant tumour. She died in September last year, the day before she was due to marry.

Following her diagnosis, Anna, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, committed herself to raising awareness of brain tumours, which kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. The £100,000 fundraising target she set herself to help fund research to find a cure was achieved on the day of her funeral.

Her family have vowed to continue her work and, on Thursday 13^th July, her father Keith, from Richmond, Yorkshire, and aunties Maureen Robinson and Heather Swabe, placed a tile in Anna’s memory on the Wall of Hope at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Imperial College, London.

They were given a tour of the research facility at Hammersmith Hospital and heard from lead scientist Dr Nelofer Syed about the work taking place there. They met Anna’s consultant neuro-surgeon Kevin O’Neill, at Charing Cross Hospital, who told them about how the research work was being translated into new surgical tools, such as the iKnife, which can differentiate between tumour and normal brain cells during surgery.

Keith said: “Anna was committed to help raise awareness and her campaign to raise money for research was incredibly important to her. Somehow, she always managed to remain positive and, more than anything she wanted to give hope to others. We know that many people who read her story and followed her blog were inspired by her work. Anna knew that it was too late for her but she was determined to do all that she could to help others.

“An increase in funding for research into brain tumours is vital if we are to prevent other families enduring the pain we live with every day.”

Brain Tumour Research are campaigning to see the national spend on research into brain tumours increased to £30 - £35 million a year, in line with breast cancer and leukaemia.

To make a donation to Brain Tumour Research via Anna’s JustGiving page go to  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/insidemyhead

 

For further information, please contact:
Susan Castle-Smith at Brain Tumour Research on 01908 867206 or 07887 241639 or Susan@braintumourresearch.org


Notes to Editors

Brain Tumour Research is the only national charity in the UK focused on funding sustainable research to find a cure for brain tumours. We are building a game-changing network of world-class Research Centres of Excellence in the UK. Embracing passionate member charities nationwide, £5.5 million was raised towards research and support during 2016.

We are campaigning to see the national spend on research into brain tumours increased to £30 - £35 million a year, in line with breast cancer and leukaemia. The charity is celebrating a year of high-profile campaigning on this issue following the unprecedented success of its petition in 2016. Following that, Brain Tumour Research is now taking a leading role in the Government’s Task and Finish Working Group convened to tackle the historic underfunding for research.

Key statistics on brain tumours:

• Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer
• They kill more children than leukaemia
• They kill more men under 45 than prostate cancer
• They kill more women under 35 than breast cancer
• Just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease
• In the UK 16,000 people each year are diagnosed with a brain tumour
• Less than 20% of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years compared with an average of 50% across all cancers
• Incidences of, and deaths from, brain tumours are increasing.

Please quote Brain Tumour Research as the source when using this information. Additional facts and statistics are available from our website including our latest Report on National Research Funding. We can also provide case-studies and research expertise for media.