In Our Hearts

Gloucestershire husband, father, and grandfather, Alan Davis, was 67 when he was diagnosed with a grade four glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain tumour, after suffering from memory loss, and problems with his balance. Due to its size and location, surgery wasn’t an option and an intense course of radiotherapy was prescribed. Unfortunately, the treatment didn’t help and Alan died in January 2009 less than six weeks after his diagnosis.

“It was early November that year when I remember having this one conversation with dad and he just couldn’t get his words out. The quick-witted, articulate and confident man I knew was not the man that was talking to me and that’s when I insisted on taking him to the GP as this wasn’t right.”

It seemed nothing would tear childhood sweethearts Sandra and Alan May apart. After 30 years of married life, they were given the devastating news that Alan had a highly aggressive brain tumour. Just 10 months later, in August 2016, he passed away, leaving his parents, sister, wife, two sons and three granddaughters. Facing life without her soulmate, Sandra has run a fete in memory of her husband for the past three years, alongside a football tournament organised by her son, Shane, and has helped to raise around £5,400 for the Brain Tumour Research charity.

“My grieving process began as soon as Alan was diagnosed. It felt like somebody had ripped my heart out and, when I look back, the whole period was a total blur. It seemed as if I was on standby. My life was completely out of control, but I had to stay strong and put on a brave face for Alan. In the final days I had to agree to Alan’s wish, to stop treatment, so that he could pass peacefully away. It felt like an eternity but it was the last act of love.”

Albie Bayliss-Watts, from Didcot in Oxfordshire, was just two years old when, in November 2021, he died from an aggressive brain tumour he’d been fighting for less than a year. Albie’s death has left his two mums, Lauren and Hayley, completely heart-broken. Having dedicated the last year of their lives to caring for Albie through gruelling surgeries and chemotherapy, they are now trying to deal with their grief by raising awareness and fundraising in his name.

Alex Wilson, a lorry driver and father-of-one from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, was  diagnosed with an aggressive, grade 4 brain tumour in June 2018. He went through two brain surgeries, radiotherapy and chemotherapy but succumbed to this terrible disease in February 2021, aged 31. Alex left behind a loving family, including his wife Jade and seven-year-old son, Ryan. 

Alexander Paul from South London was 18 when he addressed the 2014 Conservative Party Conference and described his experience of policing policy. At the Conservative Party Conference in 2017 Theresa May informed her party that Alexander had died earlier that year from a brain tumour. Joanna Brown tells the devastating story of her son’s illness, the awful impact on her and the loss to society of a gifted individual who had so much to give.

“It is this sense of crushing loss, this waste of potential, that haunt my days. He did so much but could have done so much more. I did everything I could but I couldn’t save my son and our tragedy is a wider tragedy as society needs people like my son, Alexander.

I am angry and full of what ifs but we have his poetry, his humanity and his spirit as his legacy. We didn’t discuss his mortality, he didn’t leave us letters but he left us his prose and that comforts me. A book of his work was published a year on from his death and he would have been proud of that.”

Our Fundraising Group, Alexandra’s Angels, is inspired by the story of Alexandra Foulis who died at the age of 24. Known to loved ones as Ally, she was a fun, outgoing and confident young woman whose life ended far too soon. She underwent surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy to halt a grade 3 astrocytoma but Ally passed away in August 2011. Through Alexandra’s Angels, her sisters Melissa and Rebecca are keeping Ally’s memory alive and funding the fight against brain tumours in her name.

“Not only had the tumour returned but it was back larger than before, now measuring 7cm. What’s worse, it was inoperable because it was too close to the nerves that controlled her breathing and heart-rate. We were all devastated to learn the tumour was now terminal. Ally being Ally, tried to lift the mood, saying: ‘Well, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings, and I ain’t singing yet!’”

 Alice Johnson, of Sheringham in Norfolk, was diagnosed with a high-grade ependymoma, aged three, in September 2001 after experiencing symptoms including tiredness, sensitivity to sounds, headaches and dizziness. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy after which she quickly regained strength and energy. However, over the following 21 years she endured a further five surgeries, chemotherapy and three courses of radiotherapy. Having exhausted all of her treatment options, she died in July 2022 at the age of 24.

Alison Blackwell, from Brighouse in West Yorkshire, spent many years working as a successful graphic designer and art director for a clothing catalogue before going into the millinery business with her husband, Joe. Joe’s long-established family tradition of working in the hat trade combined with Alison’s fashion background, eye for colour and design flair, meant the couple made the perfect team. However, tragedy struck in December 2021, when Alison was diagnosed with an aggressive, inoperable brain tumour. She died just four weeks later, on New Year’s Day 2022, leaving Joe and their 18-year-old daughter Libby devastated.