As many of you know our dear friend Jamie Tweedie is suffering from a brain tumour. I am running the Manchester Marathon on 27th April to raise as much as I can for The Brain Tumour Charity to help his and other families going through similar situations.

Jamie was diagnosed with a Grade 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma after a number of focal seizures in July 2023 and subsequently operated on. He then went through 6 1/2 weeks of radiotherapy followed by 12 months of chemo. After 10 months his tumour had progressed to a stage 4 and Jamie was operated on again in November, the tumour grew back in just 4 weeks. He was put on different chemo but the doctors fear his body will only cope with 4 cycles and then there is nothing more they can do. He is currently on cycle 3.

The treatment of brain tumours in this country has changed very little in the last couple of decades.

Brain Tumours are the biggest cancer killers of children and young adults under 40

Research offers the only real hope of dramatic improvements in the management and treatment of brain tumours. Over £700m is spent on cancer research in the UK every year, yet less than 3% is spent on brain tumours

Every 46 minutes someone is diagnosed with a brain tumour

33 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour every day in the UK