Family Led Partnerships

The Oli Hilsdon Foundation

Oli fought his diagnosis with optimism, courage and wicked sense of humour. Running the London Marathon in under 4 hours, working full time, traveling the world and getting married, Oli taught everyone what it is to live and to celebrate all that life has to offer.

Oli passed away in January 2019, after telling his family ‘I’m so lucky, I have a wonderful life’, just 10 days before his 27th birthday.

The Oli Hilsdon Foundation was established in January 2019 by Oli’s wife Gigi, sister Emily, sister-in-law Maria and university friends Adam, Alastair and John. The Oli Hilsdon Foundation continues Oli’s incredible work raising awareness and funding for research projects that advance the goal of extending and ultimately saving the lives of those diagnosed with a Glioblastoma.

OSCAR's Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity

OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity was formed in the summer of 2014 by the parents and friends of Oscar Hughes. Oscar was just nine-years-old when he died of a medulloblastoma in May 2014.

Founded by Oscar’s Mum, The Charity part-funds a researcher based at the Institute of Cancer Research who works alongside Professor Louis Chesler, developing new drugs to treat medulloblastomas.

They have also pledged to fund PNET5, a clinical trial aiming to prove that some children with a medulloblastoma could benefit from less aggressive therapies. This could increase their quality of survival, reduce the time spent in hospital and critically, reduce the risk of long-term disabilities.

Evie's Gift

Following diagnosis of an aggressive brain tumour while on holiday in Spain, Evie died just twelve weeks later. Evie was only 13 years old.

During her treatment, Evie’s parents were accommodated within hospital grounds as well as the Ronald McDonald House but, sadly, other parents are not so fortunate. Bryan and Patsy Clover witnessed too many frightened and tired parents of children with similar life-threatening diagnosis’ sleeping on chairs in parents’ rooms or in their cars because they couldn’t afford local hotels.

Evie’s Gift aims to take away some of the worry by giving immediate financial assistance to parents with some food, travel and hotel costs. The charity have also chosen to support our pioneering partnership with the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) funding two researchers who will be searching for new drugs that can be used in the treatment of brain tumours.

Little Hero

Will was an adventurous and cheeky 6 year old boy, full of beans with a real love for life.

After being diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of medulloblastoma, Will’s family tragically lost him just 9 months later to this horrific disease in February 2019.

Will’s family fought really hard to save Will. The Little Hero charity want to help other families suffering from the devastating effects of brain tumours and are pushing for change in primary cancer care methods, raising money to support other families fighting this savage disease and for research into more effective primary treatments for the most aggressive varieties of paediatric brain tumours.

Little Hero have chosen to part-fund our research project led by Dr Laure Bihannic to understand which cells give rise to Groups 3 and 4 medulloblastoma and use this knowledge to create accurate and effective pre-clinical tumour models for these subgroups.

The James Clifford Campling Trust

The James Clifford Campling Trust was set up to continue the legacy of James Campling, who passed away aged 29 years old, just two years after receiving a glioblastoma brain tumour diagnosis in 2016. The Trust is centred around 3 main aims; To allow patients with a terminal illness to achieve a goal on their bucket list, to provide money for research into glioblastoma and to provide a retreat for patients and their families.

The Trust has kindly financially supported our research into brain tumours, including part funding the pioneering Tessa Jowell BRAIN Matrix adaptive clinical trial, a first-of-its-kind study that will enable doctors to treat brain tumours with drugs that are more targeted than ever before.

Jake McCarthy Foundation

Jake McCarthy was found to have a large brain tumour whilst on holiday in December 2012. Jake underwent emergency surgery to remove this, but tragically did not regain consciousness, and passed away at just age 24. His condition had gone undiagnosed in the U.K. despite numerous visits to the GP. As a result of overwhelming support from those who knew Jake, his family decided to set-up a Foundation in his memory.

The Foundation aims to raise awareness of the symptoms & early diagnosis & raise funding for much needed research to prevent another family having to endure such a tragedy. The Jake McCarthy Foundation has recently most generously chosen to invest in and support our latest innovative cannabinoid clinical trial, a first-of-its-kind clinical trial in the UK to investigate cannabinoids as a treatment for people with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM).

The Brian Cross Memorial Trust

Founded in 2006, The Brian Cross Memorial Trust has to date raised over 1 million pounds to help fund research into better treatments and ultimately find a cure in memory of much loved father and husband, Brian Cross who passed away from a brain tumour in September 2006.

Most recently, the Trust has generously chosen to fund Dr Watson’s research project which looks at targeting treatment damage to stop reoccurrence. Employing drugs that inhibit glial scar formation in patients receiving treatment could dramatically increase survival by eliminating a common safe haven that cancer cells use to survive therapy.

In addition to Dr Watson’s research, The Trust has also supported Professor Wurdinger’s WINDOW project that investigates combined drug treatments and aims to create a drug database called the Drug Atlas. This database will provide the optimal drug combinations based on a host of factors, including dosage and toxicity. These combinations will be tested on brain tumour samples collected from patients with glioblastomas.

Naseem’s Manx Brain Tumour Charity

Naseem’s Manx Brain Tumour Charity is dedicated to helping everyone affected by brain tumours on the Isle of Man. The Charity was set up in October 2009 by Naseem Pishvaie, who was living with a brain tumour herself but tragically died on the day that The Charity was inaugurated. All funds raised by Naseem’s charity are used to help those affected by brain tumours on the Isle of Man or to support research and donate to medical equipment that may one day help to find a cure or improve treatment for brain tumour patients.

The Charity has generously supported our research into brain tumours, most recently taking part as a ‘Pledger’ in our match giving Big Give campaign, enabling donations to be matched and therefore have twice the impact!

Stay Strong Stu

Stay Strong Stu was set up in 2015 following keen rugby player and farmer Stu Ridley’s brain tumour diagnosis. Stu was planning a trip to Thailand with friends but a few days before he was due to leave, he began to feel unwell. After the usual tests in hospital, it was found that he had a brain tumour. Sadly, the tumour was in a position where doctors were unable to operate and at just aged 25, Stu was given just six months to live by doctors. Stu tragically passed away five months later, on the 14^th July 2015.

Whilst The Charity was originally set up to fund treatment for Stu’s care, the family have been determined to continue to raise awareness of this unforgiving disease and his legacy continues to shine bright with The Charity generously supporting us with a total of £100,000 in donations over the last decade towards our pioneering research in Stu’s name.

The Be More Laura Foundation

During her short but spectacular life, Laura Nuttall was one of The Brain Tumour Charity’s fiercest champions – from her work as a Young Ambassador and a fundraiser to spreading awareness of brain tumour signs and symptoms. Following Laura’s death in May 2023, her devoted family set up The Be More Laura Foundation so they can continue supporting the causes that Laura was so passionate about, including research into brain tumours.

The Brain Tumour Charity are one of the first lucky recipients of the new Foundation’s support. We’re so incredibly grateful for the gift of £25,000 towards Professor Susan Short’s ASTROCRAT clinical trial at The University of Leeds.

IGGY'S FUND

SHAY'S SMILES

In the face of losing their eldest son, Shay Patel, who died less than two years after being diagnosed with a glioblastoma in 2020, parents Niki and Deenu set up Shay’s Smiles, a Family Led Charity that supports families of children diagnosed with a glioblastoma, as well as funding vital research to help further the desperate need for a cure.

We have been fortunate to receive a 5 year grant of £250,000 from Shay’s Smiles towards paediatric research in Shay’s name.

Joss Searchlight

At just 10 years old, Joss Parkes died in 2011 from a diffuse midline glioma. This spurred his parents Dianne and Nigel to go on and set up Joss Searchlight in his memory. Along with funding paediatric research to find cures for childhood brain tumours, Joss Searchlight exists to raise awareness and provide support for families of children suffering from cancers of the brain.

The Brain Tumour Charity were fortunate to receive a 5 year grant totalling £150,000 towards paediatric research in Joss’ name.

The William Low Trust

The William Low Trust was set up in memory of William Low aimed at raising funds for research into brain tumours and to support young people and the families affected by brain tumours.

We were grateful to have The William Low Trust take part in our 2023 TIME Art exhibition, where art produced by William was auctioned to raise funds for The Brain Tumour Charity and The William Low Trust.

More recently, The William Low Trust attended the launch of our policy campaign outside Westminster, encouraging the government to produce a national brain tumour strategy.

Tom's Trust

Tom’s Trust is the UK’s only charity dedicated to providing mental health support to children and young people with brain other central nervous system tumours, and their families.

We were grateful to have Tom’s Trust take part in our 2023 TIME Art exhibition, where art  was auctioned to raise funds for The Brain Tumour Charity and Tom’s Trust. More recently, Founder and mother of Tom, Debs,  attended the launch of our policy campaign outside Westminster, encouraging the government to produce a national brain tumour strategy.

The Albie Sugden Foundation

Albie Sugden was only a year old when he was suddenly diagnosed with an AT/RT (atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumour), an incredibly rare, aggressive form of brain cancer affecting the central nervous system. Heartbreakingly Albie died in October 2023, almost a year to the day after his initial diagnosis at two years old.

The Albie Sugden Foundation is his legacy, working to find a cure for this brutal disease and to support children struggling through the effects of treatment. Through The Brain Tumour Charity, they have committed to £100,000 over 5 years towards research into paediatric high-grade brain tumours.