The wife of a man with a high-grade brain tumour says she is “horrified” at the lack of funding for research into the disease and is urging people to sign our petition calling for change.
Steve Richards was diagnosed with a grade 3 anaplastic astrocytoma in August 2014. Since then, he has undergone brain surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial.
His wife, Steph, said: “Steve and I used to be care-free without a worry in the world; having this big, life-changing event has been really difficult. Steve has really exceeded anything I’d read regarding prognosis which said people with this type of tumour only live between three to five years, but Steve is now on year nine which we’re thrilled about. We got married and we have two beautiful children, so you can still have a great life even when something terrible like this happens.”
As well as taking part in our Skip for 10 Minutes Every Day in November Challenge to raise vital funds, Steph is urging people to sign our petition to help us reach 100,000 signatures in the hope of prompting a parliamentary debate.
She added: “Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours since records began in 2002. It horrifies me that they’re so underfunded. I’m lucky Steve is still with us, but many have lost loved ones to this devastating disease. It is one of the most life-changing and life-limiting cancers there is.”
We are calling on the Government to ring-fence £110 million of current and new funding to kick-start an increase in the national investment in brain tumour research to £35 million a year by 2028.
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