Brian Simms lost his fight with pulmonary fibrosis in June 2017.

In lieu of funeral flowers we would really appreciate a donation to this fund which we will split between the following two charities.

** pulmonaryfibrosistrust.org

** actionpulmonaryfibrosis.org

One provides much needed support to those suffering and their families whilst the other raises awareness and supports research into treatments.

💕💕Please give generously 💕💕

IPF is an indiscriminate illness that can affect young, old, very fit, non-smokers, men and women.

People think it's a rare disease but it isn't. As with all research, more funds are needed to bring laboratory findings to clinical trials, and eventually find treatments.

One in every 100 deaths in the UK is caused by IPF but the funding is not commensurate with that high rate of deaths,' (Dr Toby Maher, Imperial College, London)

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) now kills more people in the UK than leukaemia, brain or stomach cancer – yet few people have heard of it and research is chronically underfunded, according to experts.

Britons are twice as likely to die from IPF than in a road accident, says the British Lung Foundation, but the disease has remained so underfunded in research doctors still don't know what causes it.

IPF now kills as many people as the sixth deadliest cancer in the UK and if new reported cases continue to grow at current rates - 5 per cent a year – it is predicted to be in the top five within a decade.

While around 85 per cent of breast and prostate cancer patients are still alive five years after diagnosis, just 20 per cent survive IPF. Barely half survive just three years after diagnosis.

For one or two years there doesn't seem much wrong with sufferers so doctors have been guilty of overlooking or misdiagnosing symptoms but at the end of their lives, IPF patients suffer horribly

💕💕Please give generously 💕💕