Researcher inspires charity partner to donate £30,000 in memory of their son
We’re delighted to announce that The Jake McCarthy Foundation has donated £30,000 towards Dr Tyler Miller’s research into combating gliomas with immunotherapy
By Sadie Copley-May
The Jake McCarthy Foundation has donated £30,000 towards the innovative research of Dr Tyler Miller, one of The Brain Tumour Charity’s Junior Fellows, to help other families find hope in the face of this devastating disease.
Jake’s story
Vibrant 24-year-old Jake McCarthy began to experience headaches in October 2012. He repeatedly visited the GP and was treated for migraines.
Jake then went on holiday to Thailand in December 2012, where he suffered a seizure, and was subsequently found to have a large glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumour.
He underwent emergency surgery to remove the tumour, but tragically did not regain consciousness, and passed away on 24 December 2012, just eight weeks after his headaches began and with his family beside him.
Jake
About The Jake McCarthy Foundation
The Jake McCarthy Foundation was set up in 2013 by Jake’s family in his memory, in order to raise awareness of brain tumours and funds for research to prevent other families from experiencing such devastating loss.
The Foundation became one of our family-led charity partners in 2021. We work with our charity partners to find projects they’re passionate about so they can ensure the funds they raise – as well as the time they generously give to The Charity – have the biggest impact.
In 2021, The Foundation chose to support our cutting-edge cannabinoid clinical trial, a first-of-its-kind trial in the UK to investigate cannabinoids as a potential treatment for people with recurrent glioblastoma.
Now, after visiting The Brain Tumour Charity to hear from our researchers, including our Junior Fellow, Dr Tyler Miller, The Foundation has donated £30,000 towards Dr Miller’s research into combating gliomas with immunotherapy.
“We at The Jake McCarthy Foundation are delighted to be partnering with The Brain Tumour Charity and Dr Tyler Miller on such an important research project. We were so impressed listening to Dr Miller explain his research when we visited The Charity’s headquarters back in March. This project was a natural fit for Jake’s Foundation as it concentrates on more targeted treatment for high grade glioblastomas.
With this donation, we hope that the work of Dr Tyler Miller and his team can make a genuine difference to brain tumour patients and hopefully get us one step closer to one day finding effective new treatments for people with brain tumours, so that other families don’t have to go through the devastating loss of their loved ones as we have losing our beautiful son Jake.”
The Jake McCarthy Foundation
Reprogramming immune cells to improve treatment options for glioma patients
Dr Tyler Miller was awarded one of our Future Leaders grants in 2020. Last year, we awarded him one of our Junior Fellowships – the second stage in our Future Leaders programme – and he’s made fantastic progress so far!
Dr Miller’s previous work focused on the profiling of myeloid cells (a type of immune cell) within gliomas. Normally, these cells are programmed to initiate the body’s immune response against tumours. However, researchers have discovered that myeloid cells within gliomas can actually become immunosuppressive.
Dr Miller has been working towards understanding the different types of cell which are present and what each of them do. From this, he has been able to identify which types of cells are immunosuppressive.
Now, Dr Miller aims to understand how certain myeloid cells become immunosuppressive in gliomas. He will use this information to create strategies to target this immunosuppression, with a view to make gliomas sensitive to immunotherapy.
“I’m very honoured and humbled to have The Jake McCarthy Foundation support our work. These funds will be used, in honour of Jake, to advance our efforts in developing effective immunotherapies for glioblastoma.
Currently, there are no treatments that are truly effective for patients with this devastating disease. However, with the support of dedicated advocates and fundraisers like The Jake McCarthy Foundation, we are confident that we can make significant strides toward changing this and improving patient outcomes.”
Dr Tyler Miller
We’re so grateful to The Jake McCarthy Foundation for choosing to support this exciting research, and look forward to seeing Dr Miller make further strides.
