Dearest family and friends,
It has been a while since we last updated the page and we want to say a big thank you to everyone for your ongoing support of our family. We have lived through highs and lows over these last years and on the anniversary of Emily’s 21st birthday party ( which we accelerated to make sure we could celebrate all that Emily brought into so many lives ) we have to share that, despite a valiant effort – with many small victories along the journey, Emily lost her final fight with cancer. Our incredible daughter, sister, friend died in the early hours of the 15th July 2019 surrounded by the love that made her last 18 months with us unforgettable. You can imagine that we have an Emily shaped hole in our hearts, but as we heal, we realise that the hole is gradually being filled with those precious memories that we created with Emily over the last 21 years.
Our collective fight with cancer is far from over, and many of you have asked how to continue to support those fighting on our behalf. You have already been so very generous and we did not know at first how to take this forward, however, after thinking about what Emily would want, and how to honour her vibrant life, we realised as a family that Emily would be still out there fighting in person if she could, so we will continue the fight wearing Emily’s colours.
After Emily’s devastating diagnosis of a Diffuse Midline Glioma on the 12th January 2018, Emily was desperate to return to her nursing career at Nottingham University and to live. She tried everything possible to find a cure, even undertaking a biopsy of her brain stem tumour which was sent to CeGaT in Germany to create a vaccine. She was thrilled to wake up and be alive! Unfortunately, despite trying everything Emily deteriorated 15 months after she was given 3 months to live, only then to spend 10 more brave inspirational weeks in The Princess Alice hospice Esher until she could not last any longer.
Emilys friends have been truly remarkable a real credit to her love, kindness and friendship. Charlotte and James have both been incredibly brave and we are so proud of their love for Emily and also the support they have given us too especially during our darkest hours. The pain of her loss remains with all of us every minute of every day.
We cannot thank you all enough for your support. Hopefully, we will find a research project looking into High Grade Gliomas soon, so we can invest Emilys fund in the area Emily wanted when she first set up the fund in August 2019 for her 21st birthday celebrations. Then one day there will be a cure for this devastating cancer which kills so many young adults.
All our love
Tim, Debi, Charlotte and James xx
Emily’s Story
In January 2018 I was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumour. Sadly, this type of tumour is rare and aggressive and due to the fact brain tumour research is highly underfunded and little is known about cures and treatments, this means hundreds of people diagnosed are forced to look elsewhere across the globe in order to find an answer.
I have set up for my 21st birthday the Emily Oliver Fighting Fund to raise funds for The Brain Tumour Charity. The Brain Tumour Charity offers many services such as providing detailed information about the various tumour types and most importantly undergoes vital research into all aspects of tumours to help find new treatments and provide hope.
I particularly want to raise money to fund research in to my type of tumour, a high grade glioblastoma, as this area has received little funding in the past.
There are very few known risk factors and little we can do to alter lifestyles to reduce the chances of developing a brain tumour.
There have been no new treatments in almost 50 years, so donations are vital to fund research and help find effective treatments as research offers the only real hope of dramatic improvements in the management and treatment of brain tumours. Over £500m is spent on cancer research in the UK every year, yet less than 2% is spent on brain tumours.
So please, no matter how small the sum, I would love to raise as much as I can to enable more research to be done in order to help those in my situation.
