The family of a child who was diagnosed with a brain tumour are helping to fund scientific research into finding a cure for the disease.

Vicky Pudney, 43, from Tring, chose to raise funds for research into the disease after her son Charlie was diagnosed with a high-grade brain tumour in May 2015.  Through fundraising events, Vicky and her family have so far raised over £9,000 for the pioneering charity Brain Tumour Research.

Vicky was joined by her husband Ian, daughter Eva and Charlie to place a tile on the Wall of Hope at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Plymouth University’s Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry.  The centre, which is one of four, is focused on undertaking vital research into low-grade brain tumours. Each tile laid on the wall represents the £2,740 it costs to fund a day of research.

Charlie was just seven-years-old when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Though the tumour was successfully removed in surgery, there was a high chance of regrowth so Charlie and his family travelled to America for nine weeks of Proton Beam Therapy. Now back at school and enjoying playing football once more, Charlie is well and undergoes regular scans, but his family say the experience has changed their lives forever.

Vicky said: “One week we were just a normal family, happy and sweating the small stuff as you do, and the next we were thrust into an unfamiliar and terrifying world with no way out. Learning your child has a brain tumour is just not something that you ever expect to hear.

We live each day as it comes and it has been really positive for us as a family to help raise funding for a cause that is so close to our hearts.”

Carol Robertson, Community Fundraising Manager (South) for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We are really grateful to Vicky and her family for raising vital funds to support important research into a disease which affects so many people and their families each year.

“Sadly, brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone, at any age, at any time. For too long, brain tumours have been a neglected cancer. Stories like Charlie’s remind us all that we cannot allow this desperate situation to continue.”

To make a donation to Brain Tumour Research go to https://www.braintumourresearch.org/donation

For further information, please contact:
Lexie Jenkins at Brain Tumour Research on 01908 867222 or 07591 206545 or Lexie.Jenkins@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
• Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone, at any age
• 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.