As a few of you know, my brother (Rory) was diagnosed with a brain tumour late last year which took us all by surprise, though looking at the picture on the page, we really should’ve seen it coming! Thankfully he’s undergone his first round of surgery successfully and the brain tumour is non-cancerous, we hope his second round will be equally successful!

Throughout this process I’ve come to know a lot about brain tumours and their treatment. The main thing that caught my attention was the huge potential for further progress in this field. Brain surgery is still fraught with risk, with the patient facing relatively high risks of brain damage, paralysis, having a stroke or an aneurysm and many more life-threatening conditions.

Here are some quick stats:
- Currently 29 people a day are diagnosed with a brain tumour.
- Brain tumours are the leading cause of cancer deaths in children and adults under 40. 
- Just 19% of adults with a cancerous tumour survive for 5 years or more after their diagnosis. 
- Currently only 2% of cancer research funding in the UK goes towards brain tumours .

BTRC is chaired by my brother’s surgeon, Kevin O’Neill who is a world-leader in his field. Thanks to his help and the work of his team at Charing Cross Hospital BTRC is making huge strides in making brain surgery safer, and more effective, leading to a better survival rate. If you want an insight into what brain surgery involves, you can watch Kevin at work on BBC iPlayer, in Episode 3 of ‘Hospital’. I would be really grateful if you could donate in aid of this cause. 100% of your donation will go into research for treatments and safer practices.

As we found out with Rory, this can happen to anyone, and thanks to the work of this charity, and charities like it, the treatment for brain tumours will be made safer.

Thank you!

You can check out BTRC’s work on their website: http://btrc-charity.org/