The Brain Tumour Charity sets out plans to defeat disease
Strategy aims to double survival and halve brain tumour harm
The Brain Tumour Charity has unveiled its ambitious five-year strategy, pledging to work ‘relentlessly’ towards a cure for the disease.
Defeating Brain Tumours sets out priorities including earlier and more accurate diagnosis of brain tumours and greater access to clinical trials for brain tumour patients.
It also calls for increased collaboration between charities fighting brain tumours to accelerate progress towards a cure.
Brain Tumours kill more children and adults under 40 in the UK than any other type of cancer.
Whilst survival rates have doubled across all cancer types, those for brain tumours in adults have improved little in over 40 years. Six out of ten people diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour will not survive for more than a year.
Sarah Lindsell, chief executive of The Brain Tumour Charity, said: “Our strategy is necessarily and unashamedly ambitious but it is not only decades overdue, it is an essential step towards our vision of a world where brain tumours are defeated.”
On average, brain tumours reduce life expectancy by 20 years – more than any other cancer.
The Brain Tumour Charity’s strategy aims to reduce that to ten years by 2025.
It also pledges to halve the harm caused by brain tumours by 2020, using a measure that will be agreed with patients and doctors by the end of 2015.
Among those endorsing the strategy is Professor Richard Gilbertson, Li Ka Shing chair of oncology and chair of the Cambridge University Cancer Centre.
Professor Gilbertson said: “We have made real progress in understanding how certain types of brain tumour form – but we need to go further, faster.
“Too many lives are being lost. We must do whatever we can, together, to speed up the search for a cure.”
And brain tumour patient Tasha Floyd, who is undergoing treatment for a recurrence of her disease, said: “The charity is offering something precious to everyone affected by a brain tumour: hope.”
The full strategy document is available at www.thebraintumourcharity.org/about-us/defeating-brain-tumours
Polly Newton, PR and Media Manager, The Brain Tumour Charity.
DD: 01252 418191 | M: 07990 828385 | polly.newton@thebraintumourcharity.org
About The Brain Tumour Charity
Registered Charity No. 1150054 (England and Wales) SC045081 (Scotland)
The Brain Tumour Charity is at the forefront of the fight to defeat brain tumours and is making a difference every day to the lives of people with a brain tumour and their families.
They fund pioneering research to increase survival and improve treatment options and raise awareness of the symptoms and effects of brain tumours to get earlier diagnosis and to help families cope with everything that the diagnosis of a brain tumour brings. They provide support for everyone affected so that they can live as full a life as possible, with the best quality of life.
They fund and promote the UK-wide HeadSmart campaign, raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children and young people to make earlier diagnosis a reality. Earlier diagnosis will reduce long term disabilities and save lives. In just thee years, HeadSmart has reduced average diagnosis time from 9.1 weeks to 6.7 weeks.
Find out more at: www.thebraintumourcharity.org
Members of the Association of Medical Research Charities, The Information Standard, The Helplines Partnership and the Fundraising Standards Board.
Brain tumours – the facts
Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40.
Over 9,300 people are diagnosed each year with a primary brain tumour, including 500 children and young people – that’s 25 people every day.
Almost 5,000 people lose their lives to a brain tumour each year.
Thousands more are diagnosed with secondary brain tumours, which are not recorded.
Brain tumours reduce life expectancy by on average 20 years – the highest of any cancer.
Just 14% of adults survive for five years after diagnosis.
Brain tumours are the largest cause of preventable or treatable blindness in children.
Childhood brain tumour survivors are 10 times more likely to suffer long term disability than well children.
This accounts for 20,000 additional disabled life years for all the children who are diagnosed each year.
Research offers the only real hope of dramatic improvements in the management and treatment of brain tumours.
Over £500m is spent on cancer research in the UK every year, yet less than 2% is spent on brain tumours.
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