Family from Bucks living with brain tumours support petition taken to Downing Street
Both parents to a 13-year-old girl were diagnosed with tumours
Last updated 31st Jan 2024
A petition calling on more government funding into brain tumours was, today, taken to Downing Street by the charity Brain Tumour Research.
The charity raises funds and awareness to the devastating impact of brain tumours.
According to the charity, 16,000 patients are diagnosed with brain tumours each year, with only 12% surviving beyond five years of their diagnosis.
Anita and Colin Jamieson, from Emberton in North Buckinghamshire, both live with tumours to their brains.
Dad to 13-year-old Hollie, Colin was diagnosed with two growths in 2018, and mum Anita was diagnosed with hers the following year.
"With brain tumours, even if they're not cancerous they can be very serious depending on location and size."
Although neither of their tumours are cancerous, the growths have left them with mental and physical health complications.
Colin now suffers from long-term memory loss, and his tumour could, one day, turn cancerous.
Anita said: "Colin's symptoms could have been so many things and they thought he had depression, they thought it could have been a combination of things. His symptoms weren't obvious to being a brain tumour."
"With brain tumours, even if they're not cancerous they can be very serious depending on location and size."
With only 1% of cancer research funding allocated to brain tumours, it is also be the biggest cancer killer of people under the age of 40, including a large proportion of children and babies.
"The one percent of funding they get is disgusting and brain tumours I just think, as they are the biggest killer of the under 40s, is just shocking."
The Jamieson family have been supporting the Brain Tumour Research charity for years in the work they do to change the lives of patients.
Anita said: "Very little is known and I think because no one person is the same as somebody else who's diagnosed with it, they need to know more to know how to treat people, to stop them, slow them down, and treat them."
"The one percent of funding they get is disgusting and brain tumours I just think, as they are the biggest killer of the under 40s, is just shocking."
"We're investing in research infrastructure, workshops and training for clinicians to further progress developments in this field..."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Brain cancer is a devastating disease, which is why we've made £40 million available for research projects specifically looking for new treatments and therapies to tackle this illness.
“We're investing in research infrastructure, workshops and training for clinicians to further progress developments in this field. And we continue to encourage further applications for research funding from successful candidates through the National Institute for Health and Care Research.”