brainstrust and brain tumours
brainstrust, the Meg Jones brain cancer charity, creates solutions for people with brain tumours, as well as saving lives. The charitable trust is dedicated to improving proactive care for brain tumour sufferers and providing co-ordinated support in their search for treatment. It currently supports over 100 families who are battling brain tumours.
brainstrust was founded in 2006 after the charitable trust's icon, Meg Jones, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 19. Meg subsequently underwent successful neurosurgery for the removal of the tumour in Boston, USA, during the summer of 2007.
For more information, visit: www.brainstrust.org.uk
Brain Tumour Facts
- Brain cancer kills more children than any other illness.
- More children and people under the age of 40 die from a brain tumour in the UK than any other form of cancer.
- Brain tumours account for one quarter of childhood cancer. Tumours of the central nervous system are the second most common form of cancer in children aged birth to 15 years.
- Brain tumours have overtaken leukaemia as the leading cause of cancer death in children.
- In the UK, there are 6,000 new cases of primary brain tumour every year. Sixty-five per cent more women die from a brain tumour than from cervical cancer.
- It is the fastest fatal disease in the over 65s. The incidence is increasing significantly in this age group.
- There is no UK-wide strategy for the treatment of, or research into, brain cancer.
- As no structured research base exists for brain tumours, treatment options are limited. It is not known why people get brain cancer.
Brain Tumour Patients
Famous living brain tumour patients include Lance Armstrong, Seve Ballesteros, Martin Kemp, Ted Kennedy, Wayne Osmond, Glen Roeder, Bobby Robson, Julia Somerville, Elizabeth Taylor and Russell Watson.
Famous people who died from a brain tumour before they reached 60 include Richard Burns, George Gershwin, Brian Glover, Tim Gullikson, Bill Hayley, George Harrison, Susan Hayward, Emlyn Hughes, Bob Marley, Mo Mowlam, Tammi Terrell and Francois Truffaut.
