Staff from Clarion Housing Group have remembered a treasured colleague lost to a brain tumour, by visiting a Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, to place commemorative tiles in his memory.
Clarion employee Darel Bryan, from Beckenham, was 33 years old when, in 2014, he was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) – a highly aggressive type of tumour. Devastatingly, Darel, who worked as a housing officer in Bromley in South London, died just 15 months later.
On 27 August 2019 a group from Clarion was invited to Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) to meet researchers and tour the Centre of Excellence lab. The team, along with Darel’s parents Sara and Clifford Bryan, placed tiles on the Wall of Hope, where each tile represents the £2,740 it costs for just one day of research into the disease.
Following his death, Darel’s partner and family set up the Fundraising Group the Darel Bryan Foundation. Led by a team of charity champions, staff at Clarion have helped to raise more than £150,000 through a number of fundraising activities including a ball, quiz nights and football tournaments.
Janice Wright, community fundraising manager for Brain Tumour Research in the London region, said: “We are very grateful to Clarion and to Darel’s family for their ongoing support and the amazing fundraising they’ve done.
“They’ve raised an incredible amount for Brain Tumour Research and we’re really pleased representatives from the association have been able to see the research taking place at the Queen Mary University London.”
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