Members of a South Benfleet golf club have raised more than £3,000 to help scientists find a cure for brain tumours.

The pioneering charity Brain Tumour Research was nominated by Sue Hilton during her year as Ladies Captain at Boyce Hill Golf Club during 2016. Sue and her husband Ray lost their daughter Amanda to a brain tumour in 2010. Amanda was 39 and passed away just five months after being diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain tumour.

Members took part in a variety of fundraising events during the year including raffles and coffee mornings, and also donned a variety of headwear for the charity’s annual Wear A Hat Day campaign.

Among guests at the club who attended a lunch to mark the end of the year of fundraising were Rebecca Harris, MP for Castle Point, and Sue Farrington Smith, Chief Executive of Brain Tumour Research, who said: “We are so grateful to everyone who has helped to raise the magnificent sum of £3,166.66. The money will fund research taking place at our Centres of Excellence where scientists are dedicated to improving outcomes for patients and, ultimately, finding a cure for brain tumours.

“We launched the charity in 2009 to raise funds and awareness to make a real difference to this underfunded cancer. Sue and Ray were among our first supporters and have been helping us ever since and we are extremely grateful to them.”

“Sadly, they are not alone in their experience as 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.”

More than £18,000 has been raised for Brain Tumour Research in memory of Amanda. Her mum Sue said: “It is shocking to learn the numbers of young people who are affected by brain tumours and our hope is that the money we have raised will mean fewer people suffer in the future.”

Brain Tumour Research operates a network of Centres of Excellence where scientists are focused on finding new treatments and, eventually, a cure for brain tumours. Each day of research costs £2,740.

To make a donation to Brain Tumour Research in memory of Amanda please go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amandahilton

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
• 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.