George was 41 when he collapsed, on what seemed to be a
normal day at the office.
Scans revealed he had a malignant brain tumour and it quickly
became apparent that he was suffering from a very aggressive form
of the disease. The Consultants all agreed that the tumour was
inoperable, and the prognosis was poor.
George’s gruelling round of treatments started in September 2008;
six weeks of radiotherapy, followed by ten months of chemotherapy,
six of those months were combined with a brand new drug Avastin
which really helped his quality of life.
The average life expectancy of a brain tumour patient is 14 months;
But George was able to live for nearly 18 months. His strong
constitution and the need to be with his three young children, wife,
family and friends kept George fighting.
But sadly,despite his incredible courage and bravery, he died on 28th March 2010.
Throughout this time it became clear to us how little was known about George’s condition. The consultants were
often as baffled as we were about some of his symptoms. Some internet research led us to the startling realisation
that there is little awareness of the disease and a serious lack of funding for research.
Currently Brain Tumour research receives only 0.7% of cancer research spending in the UK despite
the fact that:
Brain tumours are the most common cause of cancer death in children under the age of 15.
More men under 45 and women under 35 die from brain tumour than any other cancer.
To that end we would like to create and fund a research fellowship in George’s name – The George Pickard
Fellowship.
This will allow research into brain tumours to take place at Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre at
Charing Cross Hospital in London. It costs around £40,000 to undertake one year of research. The aim of the
fellowship will be to fund this research for a minimum of three years, which we will do through the Brain Tumour
Research Campaign and
Maybe, one day, someone diagnosed with George’s condition will be able to survive. We are therefore asking you
to contribute to a fund to be created in George’s name.
Royal Parks Half Marathon – 10 October 2010 – George’s Birthday Run
To kick start the fund raising a large group of George’s friends and family will be running the Royal Parks Half
Marathon which coincidentally would have been his birthday! As you can see from the list below this includes his
wife, a brother, nephews, a niece and a number of Godparents of their children. We are all running in aid of
George’s Fellowship.
George would have been 44 on the 10th October 2010, and our initial aim was to raise at least £44,000 – a thousand pounds for every year of his life. Thanks to your amazing generosity we have been able to increase this target to £88,000 , with the aim to fund the research project for at least 3 years, and hopefully longer.
For more information, including a live blog please go to http://www.brainstrust.org.uk/georgepickardfellowship
