Friday 25th March 2022 is 'Wear A Hat Day'!

Wear A Hat Day seeks to raise awareness about brain tumours and raise funds to support brain tumour research.

We are asking Unity employees to wear a hat on the 25th March and donate to this great cause. There will be a prize for the best hat of the day!

This event is particularly close to the heart of one member of our team who would like to share her story with you.

'March is brain cancer awareness month, a devastating disease that is massively under funded it gets only 1% of the national spend for cancer research. Glioblastoma is the most common form of malignant brain and only 6.8% of people diagnosed survive the estimated 5 years, the median survival rate is only 8 months from diagnosis, but like many other diseases no one is really aware of the impact until it comes knocking at your door.

A little bit about why I want to try and help raise awareness for this charity.

Mom started to feel overly tired 3 weeks prior to diagnosis but we put that down to her going back to work when the schools reopened after covid and the summer holidays, she then started suffering with bad headaches but mom had suffered with migraines for as long as I can remember so again no major warning signs. 

About 2 weeks prior to her diagnosis Mom started to become slightly confused and disorientated totally out of the blue, so we booked her for a Drs appointment and was advised she would be put on a 6 weeks waiting list for a brain scan. 

On Tuesday 5th October, Mom's headaches peaked and she could barely stay awake so we brought her to A&E where she was given the diagnosis. Exactly 1 week later, on the 12th October ,Mom's condition worsened and she went into a unconscious state and we were told she only had a few days left. 

We were lucky in the sense that Mom regained consciousness so we were able to have our last conversations and say everything we wanted to say. 

On the 5th of November aged 59 this vile disease had won as mom closed her eyes for the last time'. -  Gemma Sheedy

According to braintumourresearch.org, every year about 16,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour in the UK.

Only about 12% of brain tumour patients survive beyond five years of their diagnosis.

With your help we can ensure that less families lose the people they love to this disease.