A much-loved husband, father and grandfather who was lost to a brain tumour is being remembered on the first anniversary of his death with the launch of a new fundraising group dedicated to helping find a cure for the disease.

Chris Todd was 65 when he died last November following a two-year battle with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an incurable and aggressive type of brain tumour. Following his diagnosis and together with his family, he campaigned with the national charity Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of the disease which can affect anyone at any age yet has been allocated just 1% of the national spend on cancer research.

Now he is being remembered in a new fundraising group, In Chris’s Memory, which is dedicated to raising money to fund vital research taking place at a network of Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence.

Chris’s daughter Vicky Mason, from Whitehaven, said: “My dad was my whole world and this year has been so incredibly hard for us all. We know there is nothing we can do to bring him back but our great hope is that his legacy will be in the scientific research which is helping other patients and their families.

“Better treatments for brain tumours are so desperately needed and, ultimately, our hope is that a cure can be found. Dad should be here with us now, enjoying his retirement, spending time in his beloved garden, and having his family love and care for him.”

In Chris’s Memory is being launched on Saturday 4^th November with a Memorial Auction Evening at Whitehaven’s Marchon Club. The event is sponsored by North West Renovations Ltd and will include music from Cumbrian band The Wardrobe Monsters and Ultimate Sounds Disco. There will be two raffles with top prizes including £500 to spend at Whitehaven electrical store Brooks plus an Apple iPad. Auction lots include sporting memorabilia signed by Usain Bolt and Mo Farah, a St Helens signed shirt and beautiful home fragrance gifts.

Chris’s family have already raised more than £25,000 for Brain Tumour Research and aim to raise at least £5,000 each year through In Chris’s Memory.

For more information contact Vicky on 07833 303743.

Suzanne McKenna, Head of Community Fundraising for Brain Tumour Research in the north, said: “We are enormously grateful to Vicky and Chris’s family for their ongoing commitment to help raise awareness of the issues around brain tumours. They are all in our thoughts as they mark the first anniversary of their loss.

“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."

 

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.