Currently, brain tumours like my egg are not curable, they always come back, sometimes even nastier than before.
However, I have THE PLAN…
First of all, I need to begin by outliving the dire life expectancy averages attached to brain tumours. These are no-doubt represented by some sort of bell curve, and my plan is to be on the fortunate side of the curve. My brain surgeon knows some people who have survived up to 20 years with this type of tumour, my plan is to join this happy crew. It will involve a fair bit of luck, possibly a few prayers (I consider myself lucky to have such a broad base of multi-denominational friends – THANK YOU!) and y’know a chunk of positive thinking and what not.
THEN…. Some clever clogs will come up with a cure. My excellent and ever so clever, Scientist friend Chrissy is optimistic about the potential for new, exciting, life-saving developments. This cheers me greatly.
Unfortunately, brain tumour research is historically been very poorly funded. This isn’t great, but does mean that a breakthrough is now overdue. Many of the other cancers had a big boost in funding, followed by some excellent advances in treatments. Brain cancer hasn’t been so lucky regarding the funding. Give us a tenner? We could wait till after I die then do a big “In memorial” fundraising effort but how about giving a little now then maybe I won’t die so young. Here’s the deal – a little donation now we’ll skip the collection and the flowers at my funeral. Thanks!
You can now DONATE DIRECTLY TO THE BRAIN TUMOUR CHARITY here, where you can also see the total raised to date. It’s jolly impressive. Thanks loads to everyone who’s been doing bonkers fundraising for this and to everyone who’s been sending money in for said bonkers fundraising. Good effort!
Or, if you prefer, you can CLICK HERE TO DONATE THROUGH JUST GIVING
(pretty please, thank you x)
Here’s some crappy stats which illustrate the funding gap / great leap forward that brain cancer is ready to make…
- Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. Brain tumours kill more women under 35 than breast cancer.
- Less than 20% of brain tumour patients survive beyond five years of their diagnosis, whereas 86% of breast cancer and 51% of leukaemia patients survive beyond five years, with both breast cancer and leukaemia receiving nearly £500 million and £400 million respectively of research investment since 2002, compared with £57 million for brain tumours