I am proud to announce that we will now be making monthly donations to two very special charities: The Brain Tumour Charity and St Columba’s Hospice Care. This is in loving memory of my brother-in-law, Ian, who sadly passed away in December 2016 at the age of 41.
Why did I choose these charities?In October 2015 my family’s life was turned upside down by the devastating news that my brother-in-law, Ian, had a grade 4 glioblastoma. This, to those who don’t know, is a high grade brain tumour.
Ian - husband to my sister, and devoted dad to my niece (then 10) and nephew (then 6) fought this horrendous disease like a true hero! He never once looked for pity, and he never asked, “why me”? His motto was always “if it wasn’t him, it would be someone else and that he would fight it with everything he had in him for as long as he could”.
Ian went through major brain surgery in November 2015, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy - sadly to no avail. As if that wasn’t hard enough, he also lost his eyesight in early 2016 due to the position of the tumour. Through it all, he was surrounded by love and care from both sides of the family and my sister made sure that, no matter how tough things got, she and the kids created as many happy memories as possible together as a family of four in the precious time they had left together.
Ian sadly passed away in December 2016.
I often spoke with him about the idea of one day setting up my own business, and he always encouraged me to go for it. That encouragement has never left me.
From the very beginning, my aim has been not only to grow a successful business, but to reach a place where I could give back — to be strong enough to donate a proportion of my sales to such a worthwhile charity. Being able to do this now is something I feel truly honoured by, and I know it’s a way of keeping Ian’s spirit and encouragement alive in what I do.
I sincerely hope that one day a cure will be found for this horrific illness — so that other families don’t have to endure the same pain, heartache, and loss. Until then, all we can do is continue to raise awareness, support the research, and hold onto hope for a future where lives are saved and stories like Ian’s don’t have to be repeated.
About The Brain Tumour Charity
The Brain Tumour Charity is the world’s leading brain tumour charity and the largest dedicated funder of research into brain tumours globally. Committed to saving and improving lives, they are moving further and faster to help every single person affected by a brain tumour. A cure really can’t wait.
How will my donation help?
£120 could help drive faster diagnosis by paying to send enjoy Better Safe Than Tumour packs to inform up to 1,200 people about the signs and symptoms of brain tumours
£300 could fund a whole day of bran tumour-beating research by funded expert researchers
£500 could pay for a bran tumour patient’s tissue sample and genomic data to be stored for clinical trials
£500 could fund 12 counselling sessions for someone that has been diagnosed with a brain tumour or their loved one
£750 could fund 33 hours of support from a Young Adult worker
£1,000 could fund a whole year of RNA sequencing on childhood brain tumours, enabling researchers to investigate what causes them
£2,000 could fund 135 hours of complex adult casework by a specialist member of the Support Team
£2,000 could fund a whole year of cutting-edge bioluminescence imaging for glioblastoma research, enabling researchers to see and understand how tumours develop and grow
£10,000 could support a team of brain tumour researchers for a whole year, paying for essential lab consumables such as lab culture, Petri dishes and test tubes that the team use to conduct research which could lead to life-saving breakthroughs