Campaign launched to increase national funding for brain tumour research
- The Northern Quota officially launches the campaign #FUNDTHEFIGHT
- MMU student Molly Court has created the campaign after her teenage brother was diagnosed with a brain tumour in January 2017
#FUNDTHEFIGHT is a campaign to increase national funds for brain tumour research.
Treatment for cancer is becoming more and more advanced. Over the past 40 years research has progressed immensely and the survival rate has doubled. Despite this, the treatment options for brain tumours are very restricted. This is mainly due to the significant lack of underfunding research into neuro-oncology. For every leukaemia death, £8,759 is spent on research, compared with only £1,858 on brain tumour research. National brain tumour research needs to increase to £30-£35 million a year.
Although three-quarters of children now survive for at least five years. There are more than 130 types of brain tumours and it’s not clear what causes them. Groundbreaking lab research and lifesaving clinical trials are being carried out by researchers to save more lives.
Brain tumour research heavily relies on funding from charities, a total of 86% in 2015. The same year, the government funded just 0.52% on brain tumour research out of the total spent on cancer research. It’s clear that inequalities into cancer research mean poor survival rates for brain tumour patients.
The difference made so far:
- A clinical trial has been funded showing that adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy can help advance survival from medulloblastoma.
- Funding has been able to reveal some of the faulty genes linked to certain types of brain tumours including meningioma, ependymoma, pilocytic astrocytoma and glioma. This is setting a way for future treatments.
We need the government to increase the funds for brain tumour research to be able to fight brain cancer.
By signing the petition here, you can make a change.
Follow the campaign on Facebook and Twitter: @Fund_The_Fight
Together we can #fundthefight.