On 24th April 2016, I will be running the London Marathon for BrainTumour Research.

I would be so grateful if you could support me to raise as much as possible to help this charity in its quest to improve survival rates across the UK. I have an ambitious target of £6,000 which will cover the cost of funding a day and a half of vital research.

On 5th May 2015 (ironically World Ependymoma Awareness Day), our family was blindsided when our fit, healthy and full of life 7 year old son Charlie was diagnosed with a brain tumour. One week we were just a normal family, happy and sweating the small stuff as you do, and the next we were thrust into an unfamiliar and terrifying world with no way out.

Charlie had been unwell for little more than a few weeks really, with minor lethargy, morning vomiting and the odd headache. Within a week, he had undergone surgery at the John Radcliffe in Oxford and due to the amazing skill of the brilliant neurosurgeons - and a lot of luck - the tumour, which was very close to Charlie’s brain stem, was successfully removed.

Sadly any feelings of relief after the successful surgery were a distant memory when the biopsy results revealed the tumour was a grade 3 anaplastic ependymoma - a rare and malignant tumour that affects less than 40 children a year in theUK. 

Because these tumours have a high chance of recurring, Charlie needed radiotherapy (ependymomas are largely chemo resistant) to give him the best chance of long term survival.  We were then told that due to a number of factors, Charlie was an ideal candidate for a more targeted type of radiotherapy called Proton Beam Therapy not yet available in the UK. Even though this meant we would have to up sticks and travel to the US for 9 weeks, we didn’t hesitate to apply, and within 3 weeks the whole family were on a plane to Oklahoma City. It was in Oklahoma that I made the decision to apply for the next London Marathon. After toying with the idea for years, the reason to do it had finally landed in my lap under the most tragic of circumstances.

I am of course running this marathon for our beautiful, brave, cheeky little boy who, quite literally, kept us all going through the darkest days of our lives. I hope that his amazing spirit and courage continues to help him win this battle.However, I am also running it for every single other child who has, and will be, diagnosed with this terrible disease and especially for the amazing children we met at Procure in OKC.

Thankyou so much for your support.

Vicky