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Charities 'put their heads together' to raise lifesaving funds for brain tumour research
29 April 2009
"We need to understand more about brain tumours and research must be better funded"
Martin Kemp
Yesterday the Brain and Spine Foundation formed part of a national brain tumour campaign launched at the House of Commons. Martin Kemp
Brain Tumour Research is a group of 14 brain tumour charities ‘putting their heads together' to raise awareness and increase funding for vital research. Figures released by Brain Tumour Research show that the number of children dying from a brain tumour in 2007 was 33% higher than in 2001; child deaths from leukaemia were 39% lower than in 2001 (1).
More children and people under the age of 40 die from a brain tumour in the UK than any other form of cancer. Brain tumours have overtaken leukaemia as the leading cause of cancer death in children. 65% more women die from a brain tumour than from cervical cancer (2).
Despite these statistics, brain tumour research is seriously under-funded and has not received the same attention as other cancers. Thanks to the extraordinary work of Leukaemia Research and other charities, higher profile cancers generate more than 20 times the funding of brain cancer (3). Brain tumours receive less than 1% of the national spend on cancer research in the UK.
Brain Tumour Research is a new initiative by a group of UK brain tumour charities, including the Brain and Spine Foundation, to raise the profile and funding for brain tumour patients and improve their chances.
Brain Tumour Research is supported by brain tumour patients Martin Kemp and Russell Watson and Shelia Hancock, whose grandson Jack survived a brain tumour. Golfing legends Nick Faldo, Tony Jacklin and John O’Leary are also backing the campaign. Other celebrity supporters include Tim Henman, Sarah Beeny and Nicholas Owen.
Martin Kemp said: “The diagnosis of a brain tumour is devastating. But if a tumour is found in time and you are given the right treatment, you can survive and live life to the full. This can’t be left to luck or chance. We need to understand more about brain tumours and research must be better funded so that they are diagnosed quickly and everyone gets the best treatment.”
Mr Kevin O’Neill, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London said:
“Brain tumours are on the increase - reportedly in the region of 2% per year - but in my unit alone we have seen the number of brain tumour cases nearly double in the last year. Brain tumours can afflict any one of us and are increasingly affecting a younger section of the population. They cause the biggest reduction in expected lifespan than any other cancer. Frustratingly malignant brain tumours have very few treatment options and we have nothing approaching a cure. Yet brain cancer research still receives less than 1% of the national spend on cancer research in this country. Without the drive and determination of charities trying to make a difference there may continue to be a lack of funding and hope. In joining forces to form the national organisation Brain Tumour Research there may now be a brighter future for all of us.”
Professor Geoff Pilkington, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Neuro-oncology, University of Portsmouth said:
“I have worked in this area for over 35 years and sadly progress in research into brain tumours has been very slow. Brain tumour research is notoriously poorly funded and often viewed very much as a poor relation to other cancers. Unfortunately it appears to be getting worse. Yet a quarter of all cancers end up in the brain. This is urgent. There desperately needs to be an injection of money to put the building blocks in place so we can save lives.”
For more information about Brain Tumour Research please contact Vanessa Dury, Communications Advisor on: 07879 648 957
Visit the Brain Tumour Research website at www.braintumourresearch.org
References
(1) Office of National Statistics, Mortality Statistics: Deaths registered in 2007(2) Ibid
3) See Cancer Research UK statistics
