Strictly Come Dancing finalist Debbie McGee has thrown her hat into the ring to help launch a national fundraising campaign aimed at finding a cure for brain tumours.

Debbie, who lost her superstar magician husband Paul Daniels to the disease, is working with the charity Brain Tumour Research  to support this year’s Wear A Hat Day which takes place on Thursday 29^th March.

Paul passed away at the home the devoted couple shared on the river at Wargrave in Berkshire in March 2016, just one month and five days after being diagnosed with a grade four glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive and incurable type of brain tumour. He was 77 and had been married to Debbie for 28 years.

Following her loss, Debbie has campaigned with Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of the disease and, last year, launched a special pin badge featuring a rabbit in a magician’s hat in memory of Paul with proceeds going to the charity.

Other high profile names supporting Wear A Hat Day 2018 are businesswoman and model Caprice Bourret, who underwent surgery to remove a brain tumour last year, and actor and author Sheila Hancock CBE, whose grandson survived a childhood brain tumour.

Specsavers will be supporting Wear A Hat Day 2018 as an official sponsor for the first time.

Wear A Hat Day has raised over a million pounds since it was launched by Brain Tumour Research nine years ago and is the culmination of Brain Tumour Awareness Month in March. The big day will see schools, workplaces, families and individuals across the UK fundraising and taking part in fun events to raise awareness of brain tumours and help fund life-saving research.

Debbie said: “It is a shocking fact that brain tumours 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.

“Funds raised through Wear A Hat Day 2018 will develop the charity’s network of world-class brain tumour research centres in the UK. Please get involved if you can – it’s simple and fun to take part.”

To get involved, or donate, please visit: www.wearahatday.org

Or text HAT to 70660 to donate £5*

#HATTASTIC

* Texts cost £5 plus network charge. Brain Tumour Research receives 100% of your donation. Obtain the bill payer’s permission. Call 01908 867200 with any queries.

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
• 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.