15 October 2020
We are delighted to announce Brain Tumour Research Life President, Sandy Saunders, has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to charity.
Sue Farrington Smith MBE, our chief executive, said: “All of us at Brain Tumour Research send our heartfelt congratulations to Sandy on this award which is hugely deserved.”
Losing his eldest daughter, aged 42, a wife and mother of three young children, just 23 days after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2002, led Sandy to set up The Diana Ford Trust to fund research to find a cure for the disease. This came just a year after Sue and her family had set up Ali’s Dream after Sue’s niece Alison Phelan passed away from a brain stem glioma just three weeks before her eighth birthday.
Sue added: “We will always be grateful to Sandy and The Diana Ford Trust for having the foresight to change their name to Brain Tumour Research, step down and enable representatives of charities that had come together under the Umbrella of the United Brain Tumour Campaign to become trustees, including myself a trustee of Ali’s Dream, Wendy Fulcher co-founder of BTRC (Brain Tumour Research Campaign) and Nigel Boutwood founder of Charlie’s Challenge.”
Sandy, who has three other daughters and 14 grandchildren, said: “I feel very privileged and humbled by the news, especially when you bear in mind how many people are doing such good work. It is a great acknowledgement. It is an honour to be singled out, but I am also very conscious of how many other people deserve recognition.”
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