A Milton Keynes charity is encouraging people across the country to send a message of hope this Christmas to help raise vital funds for research into brain tumours.

The annual Hope Tree Christmas Appeal is asking people to make a donation and write a special message of hope or remembrance on a bauble. These decorations are hung on the Hope Trees which are situated at four Centres of Excellence and at the Brain Tumour Research HQ in Shenley Wood.

The proceeds of the appeal will fund vital research which is taking place at the centres in the University of Portsmouth, Plymouth University, Queen Mary University of London and Imperial College, London.

To launch this year’s campaign in Milton Keynes, siblings Liberty, seven, Henry, five and Sebastian, two, placed baubles in memory of their grandmother Virginia who died from a brain tumour in 2007.

Virginia Kimberley was in her 20s and had just become mum to twins when she was diagnosed with an astrocytoma. She battled the disease for 30 years, undergoing numerous operations and treatments. Following a stroke, she was admitted to a hospice where, after eight years of full-time care, she died in April 2007, at the age of 57.

Mum to Liberty, Henry and Sebastian, Caroline said: “I’m really sad that my mum never got to meet any of her eight grandchildren. This appeal gives us, and others, the opportunity to remember loved ones and keep their memory alive at a time when it is all about family and being together.

“I tell my children about their grandma all the time and feel angry that even if she was diagnosed today, the treatment offered for her type of tumour would be virtually the same, so the outcome would also be the same. This is why more research is vital to beating this horrible disease.”

Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone, at any age, at any time. What’s more, they kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

To find out more about The Hope Tree Christmas Appeal visit https://www.braintumourresearch.org/donation/hope-tree-appeal

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.