Worldwide Cancer Research thanks supporters for funding over 3,500 hours of research
Scottish charity Worldwide Cancer Research has today marked the end of Brain Tumour Awareness Month (March 2021) by thanking Suzanne Davies, a mum from Aberdeen living with stage four glioblastoma, for helping raise over £80,000 towards vital research.
Just five per cent of people will survive five years or more after a glioblastoma diagnosis – the most aggressive type of brain cancer. Seven years on, Suzanne is defying all odds and is on a mission to raise awareness of the cancer type.
As the face of their Winter Appeal, Suzanne’s story lead to over £84,194 in individual donations.
The fundraising total will support over 3,500 hours of research, backing the brightest minds around the world in their quest to find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
Since it was established in 1979, the Edinburgh-based charity has funded over £200million of research in over 30 countries to start new cancer cures.
The charity is currently funding two brain tumour research projects, worth over £410,000, one looking at how to beat treatment resistance in childhood brain cancers, and the second hoping to better understand how a gene in our DNA allows brain cancer cells to survive and grow.
In 2014, Suzanne’s consultant told her she’d only have a year to live. Seven years on, she said: “It was a really hard time and came from nowhere. I suddenly found myself having vacant moments, where I couldn’t hear, speak or even breathe.
“When the doctors told me I had a tumour the size of a golf ball in my brain and that I’d only have a year to live, I had my two children (aged four and seven at the time) and husband to think about.
“Now seven years on, I’m so thankful for research and for the treatments, surgery advances and drugs that were and are available to me. I didn’t think I’d get to see my 40th birthday, let alone see my sister get married and have children of her own.
“2020 turned our lives upside down and I think we’ve all breathed a sigh of relief that the year is over, but thanks to the generosity of Worldwide Cancer Research’s supporters, I’m feeling really positive about the year ahead.
“I am thrilled to hear that this campaign has raised over £80,000 towards life-changing cancer research. Any research that can help us get closer to cures, clinical trials and everything in-between is incredible. And the fact it’s a charity close to home starting the research across the world makes it even more incredible.
“I want to be a Grandma and to be able to live my life like I should be able to. And thanks to charities like Worldwide Cancer Research, I might be able to.”
Brain tumours kill over 5,000 people each year in the UK and over 400 in Scotland alone.
Dr Helen Rippon, Chief Executive at Worldwide Cancer Research said: “Brain cancer affects a huge number of people – not only in Scotland, but right across the world. By funding more discovery research, we know that we can save more lives in the future.
“We’d like to say a massive thank you to Suzanne for fronting this campaign, and helping us raise over £80,000 towards cancer research, helping us continue to make our ground-breaking research possible. This money will help us fund over 3,500 hours of ground-breaking research. Together, with the help of Curestarters like Suzanne, we can end cancer.”
For more information about Worldwide Cancer Research or to make a find out how you can help us start new cancer cures, please visit:
https://www.worldwidecancerresearch.org/support-us/donate/
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