A university student who overcame a brain tumour only to lose his dad to the same disease is taking on a series of challenges to raise money to help find a cure.

Jamie Manton’s fundraising mission comes a year after his father Stephen Manton’s sudden death. Jamie had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and was awaiting surgery when his father was taken ill and passed away.

Nursing student Jamie, 26, is now fundraising for the Brain Tumour Research charity by taking on the Sheffield 10k on September 23^rd, the Birmingham Half Marathon on October 14^th, and the Sheffield Half Marathon in April 2019.

Diagnosed with a low-grade meningioma at the age of 25, Jamie took time out from his nursing degree at Sheffield Hallam University whilst undergoing treatment and waiting for a surgery date. During this time, Jamie’s dad began suffering from the same numbness that Jamie had experienced before his diagnosis.

Stephen, a civil servant from Sheffield, was sent for an MRI scan and when the results came back unclear, he underwent a biopsy at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. A high-grade glioma was found in his brain but before he could hear discover the results, the 64-year-old suffered from a post-operative brain haemorrhage and sadly died five days later. Within a week, Jamie had to return to Royal Hallamshire for surgeons to operate on his own brain tumour.

Jamie said: “My family and I are still reeling from what happened. There’s no hereditary link between my diagnosis and my dad’s – we were just extremely unfortunate and lightning struck twice. It was heart-breaking.

“Although I’m back to full health now and rebuilding my life, it’s important to me to help prevent others suffering like we have. I’m a keen runner and so I’m taking on as many running challenges as I can to raise money for research into brain tumours.”

He is raising money for Brain Tumour Research, the only national charity that is dedicated to raising funds for continuous and sustainable scientific research into brain tumours.

Matthew Price, Community Fundraising Manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “Brain tumours are indiscriminate and 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.

“It’s dreadful that the Manton family have not only experienced a brain tumour diagnosis twice, but have also lost Stephen to the disease. Stories like this remind us that we cannot allow this desperate situation to continue. We wish Jamie the best of luck for his running challenges and hope his story will inspire others to help fund the fight against brain tumours.”

To sponsor Jamie, go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jamie-Manton4

For further information, please contact:
Farel James at Brain Tumour Research on 01908 867221 or 07592 502708 or Farel. James@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.