Councillor Geoff Elner today presented a Council Motion urging Shropshire Council to help raise awareness of brain tumours and to support vital research and development.
A Council Motion is normally a request made by a councillor for a particular issue to be discussed at a council meeting, and for a decision to be made.
In his motion, Mr Elner referenced the poor survival statistics surrounding this devastating disease. The average five-year survival for those diagnosed with a brain tumour is just 12%, compared to an average of 70% for breast cancer patients and 40% for those diagnosed with leukaemia.
He also emphasized that brain tumours remain the chief cause of all cancer deaths in children and young people, and paid tribute to “happy, popular, seemingly healthy young teenager” Ella McCreadie, a 13-year-old resident in his ward who died in December 2022.
Councillor Elner said: “Ella felt under the weather one day and didn’t go to school. She spent the day resting and in the evening like any other teenager sat in her bedroom, listened to music, did her homework and phoned her friends. She said goodnight to her Mum and Dad and went to bed; it appears that she closed her eyes and went to sleep and died. She never woke up again.”
It was only when they received the coroner’s report than Ella’s parents, Sophie Penrose and Alastair McCreadie, learnt their beloved eldest child had suffered a haemorrhage caused by a high-grade diffuse midline glioma. Her shocked parents said there was no warning of her condition as she had no symptoms at all.
Councillor Elner asked Shropshire Council to write to the Secretary of State for Health to immediately address the funding shortfalls in research into brain tumours. Councillor Joyce Barrow seconded the motion. Her brother died of a brain tumour after being misdiagnosed with an ear infection. The motion was passed unanimously.
Thomas Brayford, our Policy and Public Affairs Manager, said: “We thank the Councillor for helping to raise awareness of this devastating disease. We will continue to work with elected representatives and their communities across the country to ensure that brain tumours are made a clinical priority. The Government must develop a strategic plan to adequately resource and fund discovery, translational and clinical brain tumour research.”