To mark the second anniversary of losing his wife and honour the incredible way she handled living for eight years with a brain tumour, Glenn Karpel, who set up Brain Tumour Research Fundraising Group In for a Penny, is taking on a gruelling challenge of his own.
Penny Rowland was outgoing, fit and active, an excellent dancer and former dance instructor. She was originally diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumour in 2009. In 2016 Penny started experiencing significant mobility problems. Her family looked everywhere to find a way to extend Penny’s life, but in the end, they had to accept that there was no more treatment available. After 12 agonising days in a coma, Penny took her last breath.
On 12 September, Glenn is setting out to take on the dangers of the Borneo jungle. He will spend 10 days relying on a compass and the help of hunters from local villages to negotiate animal tracks. Glenn will have to watch out for snakes, scorpions, leeches, crocodiles and orangutans as he treks for five or six hours a day, lives on military ration packs or from wild foraging and trapping.
Glenn says: “It will be no walk in the park – I have had training from jungle experts, but there will be real life-threatening dangers out there.
“I want to do this for Penny because she had to endure such a horrendous experience, yet remained positive right to the end. She never gave up and nor shall I. We have to make a difference for brain tumour patients in the future.”
You can read Penny’s story.
Donate to Glenn’s fundraising page
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