Bereaved Nottingham mum backs calls for government action on brain tumours
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer.
A Nottinghamshire Mum, who lost her five-year-old son Larsen to a brain tumour, has backed calls for the government to fund research to help find a cure.
Holly Roberts, from Sherwood, lost her son to a rare, high-grade medulloepithelioma, an embryonal tumour of the optic nerve. Larsen was just five when he died in December 2019, leaving behind his mum Holly, dad Lyndon and younger brother Jesse.
Holly said: “Larsen was a really clever child and already learning to read and write aged three. But very quickly he went from being super enthusiastic to not wanting to try at all. That was the first ‘symptom’ we noticed. Then, when he was almost three-and-a-half, he had conjunctivitis and while trying to clean it up, I discovered he had no vision in his right eye. He was referred to an optometrist and orthoptist by our GP, who said he had a lazy eye.”
“Larsen’s brain tumour was so rare that there were only about seven researched cases in the world. I signed the petition because if more money was spent on brain tumour research then perhaps his consultant would have heard about it, perhaps he would have been diagnosed earlier, and perhaps the treatment would have been kinder than the chemotherapy, which ultimately killed him.”
A report being circulated to MPs today highlights the fact that brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer.
The charity says that since 2002, when cancer spend records began, £680 million has been invested in breast cancer while just £96 million has been spent on researching brain tumours; a difference of £35 million a year over 17 years. This disparity continues with brain tumour research spend continuing to receive £35 million a year less over the last three years.
In its Petition Report, Level Up and Stop the Devastation, the charity is calling on the government to introduce new brain tumour research levelling up fund of £105 million and a an increase the national investment into brain tumour research to £35million a year.