Raising awareness for brain tumours

On Sunday, I will be running The Great North Run to honour my girlfriend's dad, Giles Bunting, who has been battling a stage 4 brain tumour since September 2022.

Giles was in great health, an active runner, and an adventurous free diver. On September 1st, 2022, Giles had a severe seizure whilst travelling Europe with his partner Lisa, the only sign being a pain in his leg. Once at the hospital, he underwent a brain scan which confirmed that Giles had a grade 4 glioblastoma, a very unpredictable and aggressive form of cancer, at the age of 51. This gave him 12 - 18 months, due to it being inoperable. To fight this, Giles went through two weeks of intense radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which might have slowed it down, but it didn’t stop it. He has been incredibly brave throughout this tough journey, with his family always by his side.

Recently, Giles has lost his ability to speak, making communication incredibly challenging. Over the past week, he has spent most of his time sleeping, and now he's in end-of-life care at home, surrounded by his family. In just a year, we've witnessed Giles go from being an active and healthy person full of life to reaching the end of his journey because of this terrible illness.

It's disheartening to know that only 1% of all the funds raised for cancer research go toward finding a cure for brain tumours. This highlights the urgent need for more support and resources to tackle brain cancer, a devastating condition that affects so many lives.

I'm raising money in aid of The Brain Tumour Charity who are the leaders in their field, funding world-class research, providing support and information and raising awareness of brain tumours. It is dedicated to beating this disease, the biggest cancer killer of people under 40 in the UK.

Donations of any size are highly valued and deeply appreciated for this meaningful cause.

Thank you.