On Friday 21st June, my colleagues and I at MMX Retail (along with hopefully a good few fellow supporters) will be walking a marathon route around London in support of The Brain Tumour Charity and specifically their funding towards the PNET5 trial.

As you may know, my son, Alex, was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma (a type of Brain Tumour) in September 2017 aged 3.5 years

Alex survived an emergency 8.5 hour brain operation and has had a further 12 months of chemotherapy and at one point, 6 weeks of daily radiotherapy under daily general anesthetic. 

Medulloblastoma is the most common paediatric brain tumour, but as treatments have to target the whole of the brain and spinal cord, they are aggressive and can leave long-term, life-altering disabilities for children who survive.

Through the care Alex has been receiving at GOSH, UCLH and Watford hospitals, our family made the decision to allow Alex to join a Europe-wide treatment trial called PNET5.

Alex is the first child in the UK on the PNET5 trial.

Part of PNET5 aims to prove that children can benefit from a different treatment regimen that results in fewer immediate side effects and reduced risk of critical long term disabilities, without any negative impact on length of survival.

Please join us, or sponsor me if you can - we hope that the PNET5 trial will advance our knowledge of Medulloblastoma Brain Tumours and improve treatment for children into the future, whatever the outcome for Alex.

David Hobbs