Appeal to reach fundraising target for Liverpool brain cancer campaign
The University of Liverpool's brain cancer fund is £20,000 away from its £250,000 target
The University of Liverpool is appealing for help to reach its fundraising target for lifesaving research into glioblastoma.
Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain tumour in adults. Despite intensive treatment with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the average survival is 12 months - with fewer than five in 100 patients living for five years.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool are working with The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust to pioneer a new type of treatment to manipulate the body's own immune system into fighting cancer.
They're studying the immune system response in long-term survivors and comparing the results with those patients who do not respond to treatment.
The university's fund is less than £20,000 away from reaching its £250,000 target.
Kelly Haugh and her family have raised nearly £6,000 in memory of her father Robert Jones, who sadly died from glioblastoma in 2022.
They met Professor Michael Jenkinson and Dr Michael Cearns, who are involved in the research, in September.
The fund has also received a donation from Naseem's Manx Brain Tumour Charity, an organisation set up by Naseem who was a brain tumour sufferer to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms and to fund research to find cures.
The charity’s secretary, Geraldine Pishvaie, said:
"This research is something we wholeheartedly support and we are very happy to be able to work with the clinicians.
"We are particularly interested to see how the findings, once published, will affect the outcomes for glioblastoma patients who I think we can agree get a rough deal when it comes to life saving treatments and progress."
Dr Michael Cearns said:
"As neurosurgeons we spend a lot of time looking after people with glioblastoma so we see this hardship up close every day and are desperate to see change.
"What we’re doing in our lab aims to develop new treatments that we can eventually trial out of The Walton Centre. As clinicians we are particularly focused on this work having direct benefits for our patients."