We were delighted to welcome Member Charity Shay’s Smiles to our Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London yesterday for a special event to honour the incredible contribution the charity is making in the fight to find a cure for brain tumours.
Shay’s Smiles is sponsoring PhD researcher, Niamh Baker, at Queen Mary, over four years, at a cost of £143,657, in memory of Shay Patel who was just 13 when he passed away from a glioblastoma on 1st September 2020.
Parents Niki and Deenu, and their younger children, Dylan and Jasmine (pictured below), heard presentations from Director and Lead Investigator of the Centre, Professor Silvia Marino, as well as Niamh. Focusing on investigating epigenetic changes in glioblastoma patients, Niamh’s research looks at how this could potentially inform the development of new treatments or even personalised therapeutic approaches.
Along with Shay’s Smiles’ Trustees, Julie Pappacoda and David Newton, and their Patron, Chelsea and England footballer Ben Chilwell, the family unveiled a plaque outside the lab and placed 58 tiles on the Wall of Hope dedicated to the beloved son and brother.
Poignantly, Ben’s involvement with Shay’s Smiles came about because Shay was a gifted footballer himself, a massive Chelsea fan and, not only was he a student at the same Bedfordshire school as Ben, but they also both played for the same grassroots football club – Woburn Lions (now Woburn & Wavendon FC).
The event concluded with Ben (pictured below with one of Shay's tiles) donating a magnificent £25,000 towards the game-changing research being conducted at Queen Mary to bring about vital breakthroughs in brain tumour treatment.
Yesterday evening, BBC 5 Live Drive (listen from 2 hrs 41 mins) interviewed Niki, focusing on Shay’s tragic story and the charity’s epic fundraising of more than £160,000 to date for Brain Tumour Research to improve outcomes specifically for glioblastoma and paediatric patients in Shay’s memory.
You can help fund the scientists at our Centres, who are searching for a cure for children like Shay, and put an end to the devastation families face because of this disease. Click here to make a donation.
