A grieving daughter will run the equivalent of four marathons over four consecutive days to raise money and awareness for the Brain Tumour Research charity in memory of her beloved mum.

Claire Hobson, 36, of Bagshot, will start out on Thursday 30^th August and cover a total distance of around 110 miles with a round trip from Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, where she was born, to Rochester Castle in Kent where her mum, Penny Rowland, was born and grew up, and back again.

Penny, a former dance instructor who later worked for 20^th Century Fox as an Area Rep, was diagnosed with a low-grade glioma brain tumour in 2009 following a blackout. She had radiotherapy and life returned pretty much back to normal.  In 2015, however, Penny had to undergo chemotherapy when the brain tumour was found to have become cancerous.

A year later, the tumour had grown again and, despite taking part in a clinical trial and starting a new course of chemotherapy, Penny’s neuro-oncology team advised the family that there was nothing more that could be done. Penny passed away on 15^th September 2017, just seven months after marrying her second husband, Glenn Karpel, and just a few weeks after her 66^th birthday. Daughter Claire gave birth to her second child, Penny’s second grandchild, just five weeks later.

Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age. 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.

Earlier this year, Glenn, as well as Penny’s two daughters, Claire and Stefanie Rossnagle, set up a Fundraising Group, which they have called In for a Penny, under the umbrella of national charity Brain Tumour Research, to help find a cure for brain tumours. Claire hopes that her four marathons in four days, will raise over £1,500 for Brain Tumour Research, bringing the total raised by In for a Penny to around £5,500, the equivalent of the cost of two days of research at one of Brain Tumour Research’s Centres of Excellence.

Claire, Penny’s eldest child, and a keen member of the Sandhurst Joggers running club, has run 12 marathons in the past and, four years ago, ran three marathons in three days before the first of her two sons, Luca (now three) and Leo (nine months), was born,.

Claire said: “I am a bit nervous about my ultra-marathon – I know it’s going to hurt a lot, but I am excited too. I will get to see parts of Surrey and Kent I have never seen before and at the same time I will be honouring and remembering Mum. What’s more, I know that the money raised will help to find a cure for this terrible disease so that other families don’t have to go through what we have and, most importantly, Mum won’t have died in vain.”

Michael Thelwall, Head of Community Fundraising for the Brain Tumour Research charity said: “We are really grateful to Claire and In for a Penny for their support and awareness- raising and wish Claire the best of luck in completing her extraordinary challenge. The money raised will help us in our mission to build a network of experts in sustainable research. We are funding dedicated UK Centres of Excellence where scientists are focused on improving outcomes for patients and, ultimately, finding a cure.

“For too long, brain tumours have been a neglected cancer and we cannot allow this desperate situation to continue. Sadly, less than 20% of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years compared with an average of 50% across all cancers.”                              

To sponsor Claire’s remarkable challenge and help power her from Ascot to Rochester and back again, go to www.sponsorme.co.uk/clairehobson/in-for-our-penny

For further information, please contact:
Liz Fussey at the Brain Tumour Research charity on 07811 068357 or liz@braintumourresearch.org

Notes to Editors

Brain Tumour Research is the only national charity in the UK dedicated to raising funds for continuous and sustainable scientific research into brain tumours, and we are a leading voice calling for greater support and action for research into what scientists are calling the last battleground against cancer.

We are building a network of experts in sustainable research at dedicated Centres of Excellence whilst influencing the Government and larger cancer charities to invest more nationally.

We welcome recent funding announcements for research into brain tumours from the UK Government and Cancer Research UK – £65 million pledged over the next five years. However, this potential funding of £13 million a year comes with a catch – money will only be granted to quality research proposals and, due to the historic lack of investment, there may not be enough of these applications that qualify for grants from this pot.

We want research funding parity with breast cancer and leukaemia. We are calling for a £30-35 million investment every year for research into brain tumours in order to fund the basic research groundwork needed to accelerate the translation from laboratory discoveries into clinical trials and fast-track new therapies for this devastating disease.

The Brain Tumour Research charity is a powerful campaigning organisation and represents the voice of the brain tumour community across the UK. We helped establish and provide the ongoing Secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Brain Tumours (APPGBT). We are supporting the crucial APPGBT 2018 Inquiry into the economic and social impacts of brain tumours and will publish their report in the autumn. We are also a key influencer in the development strategy for the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. 

Key statistics on brain tumours:

• Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age
• Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer
• Just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours
• In the UK, 16,000 people each year are diagnosed with a brain tumour
• Brain tumours kill more children than leukaemia
• Brain tumours kill more men under 45 than prostate cancer
• Brain tumours kill more women under 35 than breast cancer
• Less than 20% of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years compared with an average of 50% across all cancers

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