alex roberts
Alex, Ben, Matt & Jordan's London Marathon 2023 page
Fundraising for Brain Tumour Research
Story
We are running the London marathon 2023 to honour the memory of our friend and brother Mike.
Mike passed away in July 2022 after living with a meningioma brain tumour for 8 years. Less than 20% of people diagnosed with tumours live longer than 5 years and kill more children and people under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet it receives only 1% of cancer specific funding from the government, which is less than any other cancer!! As a result, the treatment for brain tumours hasn’t advanced as quickly as it should. Currently in the UK, you are offered an operation to remove a tumour if it’s in a location where it can be easily operated on, and chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, there are other treatment’s available abroad that aren’t offered on the NHS which are proving very effective…
A little bit about Mike’s story - he was first diagnosed in October 2014 and subsequently had his first operation. Unfortunately, the surgeons couldn’t remove the full tumour due to its precarious location, so instead, Mike had to undergo radiotherapy to treat what was left. A scan at the beginning of 2018 showed some re-growth, so he had a second operation in April 2018. Following this operation, he underwent chemotherapy.
Everything seemed to be going well for Mike until 2020, when the tumour started to grow again. He was finally offered a treatment called Avastin, which wasn’t available on the NHS and had to be paid for privately - approximately £3,500 every 3 weeks. Despite its expense, the treatment was amazing - little to no side effects and successfully kept the tumour stable, so that by the end of 2020 he could stop having treatment!
In April 2021 the tumour grew yet again. This time Mike had intense radiotherapy. Everyday for 6 weeks. Scans that followed this showed shrinkage, something that had never happened before! In march 2022 he received the best scan he ever had - more shrinkage and dead cancer cells. However, in May he caught an infection, which found it’s way into his brain, and after many weeks trying to fight the infection in hospital, a scan showed that the tumour had grown again and he tragically passed away on the 10th July 2022.
Mike was 33 years old and had recently become a dad. Throughout the 8 years of having a brain tumour he never stopped living his life, he still went to work every day to help support his family and carried on doing the things he enjoyed. Mike always had a smile on his face even when it was incredibly tough at times.
To sustain vital discovery research, it costs Brain Tumour Research on average 1 million pounds per year. We want to raise money to support ‘BTR’ help people in the future who are diagnosed get access to better treatments and hopefully one day a cure! We know how tough running the marathon will be, but it’s nothing compared to the hardships Mike had to endure. Any support and donations you make will be greatly appreciated all of us.