As I'm sure most of you are aware I have 2 low grade meningioma brain tumours. One of them is about the size of a pea and doesn't cause any issues at all, the other hasn't been quite so unobtrusive.

My tumours are low grade (benign). The bigger tumour was squashing my optic nerve and there was concern that if left I could permanently lose sight in one or both eyes. To reduce the liklihood of this they removed as much of the tumour as they could on 2010. It continued to grow so in 2018 I had a second debulking surgery which they followed up with 6 weeks of sterotatic radiotherapy. Since then my annual scans have been stable. Due to the position of the tumour they can't remove it all without risking other complications including full loss of vision. 

I'm very aware that I am one of the lucky ones, mine are low grade and I've had the most amazing support from The neuro and craniofacial plastics teams at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Some would say I could do with a bit more plastic surgery but hey, they can only work with what they've got! The support I had from family and friends was and still is incredible, not least when everyone stepped up to do shifts to 'babysit' me 24 hours a day as for 4 weeks after coming home I had to have someone with me around the clock. I realise how blessed I am and a lot of people wouldn't have been able to leave hospital without the home support that I had in place. 

Although I'm healthy I am far from being fit, long gone are my running days. I think skipping for 10 minutes for 1 day will be hard enough but 30 days is going to exhaust me but I wanted to do something to give back a bit and to raise awareness of how underfunded research is into Brain Tumours.

Brain tumours 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. This is unacceptable!I am fundraising for Brain Tumour Research as they are the only national charity dedicated to funding long-term, sustainable research in the UK. Please help me fund the fight. Together we will find a cure.