Last month [March 11-18^th], Denise van Outen led a team of celebrities and campaigners on a 187-mile bike ride across Kerala in India to raise funds for the charity Brain Tumour Research.

Denise launched the Nicki Waterman Kerala Challenge (#NWKC2017) in memory of her close friend and fitness trainer to the stars, Nicki Waterman. Denise teamed up with Nicki’s daughter, Alex Thrussell, for this challenge during Brain Tumour Awareness Month.

Famous names including Kate Thornton, Michelle Heaton, TOWIE’s Georgia Bright and X Factor’s Kye Sones signed up for the epic adventure, helping to raise over £53k to date in memory of Nicki.

Nicki trained Kelly Brook and girl group All Saints, amongst others, before her illness and died in August last year, just 15 months after her terminal brain tumour diagnosis.

Denise and Alex were joined by family, friends and two dedicated brain tumour campaigners, who won the chance to join the exclusive group through a special competition in The Sun on Sunday.

The team cycled up to 50 miles each day in 30 degree temperatures for the five-day challenge. 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 brain tumours.

The ride was designed by independent fundraising tour operator Charity Challenge.

To make a donation, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/NickiWatermanKeralaChallenge or text NICKI to 70660 to donate £5.

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

Caroline Marrows at Brain Tumour Research on 01908 867221 or 07714 743764 or Caroline@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.