We’re thrilled to announce producer and pop-music powerhouse Pete Waterman OBE as our new Patron.
Pete, 77, is taking on the role as he prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the loss of his eldest son Paul (pictured below right) to a brain tumour. Paul had been working alongside his dad and brother, Pete Junior, when he became unwell. He was hospitalised and died six months later, on 3rd January 2005, aged just 33.
Pete, who this year celebrates the 40th anniversary of his world-famous PWL record label, credits Paul as a key player in the so-called Hit Factory, which was behind many of the leading acts of the 1980s and 1990s, including Kylie Minogue, Bananarama, Rick Astley and Steps.
Pete said: “Twenty years on and Paul’s loss still hurts. But in a way I think that’s a good thing; it’s good to know you are vulnerable, to understand that you can be in good health but then it’s suddenly snapped away from you by a brain tumour that doesn’t discriminate – it takes anybody and for no particular reason.”
Heartbreakingly, Paul chose to hide his diagnosis from his dad. “He kept things very private and wouldn’t have wanted me to be distracted from work; things were really busy and he would have wanted me to focus on that,” said Pete.
“I know now that it’s most likely that Paul had a glioblastoma (GBM), which is the most commonly diagnosed aggressive brain tumour in adults and has a devastatingly stark prognosis of just 12 to 18 months; only one in five patients with this type of brain tumour survive beyond one year.”
Pete is backing our call to increase the national investment in research into brain tumours to £35 million per year, which would give the disease parity with other types of cancer, including breast and prostate.
Speaking ahead of his latest project, Here & Now – The Steps Musical, Pete said: “I have taken on this role as Patron of Brain Tumour Research because nobody should have to go through this. We have seen massive moves forward in medicine and in cancer care, we have modern technology, and somehow we can spend a fortune on bombing each other, yet we can’t spend as much as we need to on making the advances we so desperately need in this area. That’s just lunacy.”
Working with Pete, we hope to turn up the volume on our plea for better outcomes and treatment for brain tumour patients, and together help to build a more hopeful future.
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