Recently, my boyfriend Dan and I were invited to a private reception for supporters of The Brain Tumour Charity, hosted by Lord Adonis at the House of Commons. (Yes, Dan has joined me in this crazy world of fundraising and awareness raising!). Here, I give a low-down of the day, of progress made and of the exciting next steps in UK brain tumour strategy afforded to us by the legacy of Dame Tessa Jowell. Our invites told us, As part of the incredible community who inspire and support us each day, we want to thank you for our recent progress in defeating brain tumours. Please join us at the ..read more

Hi. It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy getting back to work full time and less has been happening regarding new appointments, diagnosis updates or treatments. Recently though, I’ve addressed one of my symptoms in a more head-on way and wanted to write about it in case anyone out there identifies and finds that this course of action could help them. Since my brain haemorrhage, I’ve noticed a marked difference in my ability to get the right words out. It isn’t all the time – some days my brain just works, other days it doesn’t. And on days where it doesn’t, it can be both worry ..read more

I recently visited Walkergate Park, an outstanding centre for neurorehabilitation and neuropsychiatry in North East England. Walkergate Park’s wide ranging and holistic facilities are available to anyone with a disability caused by injury or disease to the brain, including those suffering from the effects of a brain tumour or its treatment. Today I talk about my visit to Walkergate, as they celebrate 10 years of providing forward-thinking services to their user base. A little while ago I was contacted by Elaine Fletcher, the Service Manager of Walkergate Park Hospital, a centre for neurorehabi ..read more

Hi folks, it’s Angie. Today I’m honoured to share a guest post from another friend of mine, Lara. You might remember Lara and her beautiful daughter Amber from my post Benign isn’t fine, when at six years old Amber was going through chemotherapy to treat her low grade brain tumour. Sadly, in December this year, scans showed that Amber’s brain tumour had grown and developed multiple cysts causing further problems. Amber then needed a major operation to relieve growing pressure in her brain. Now, just over one year on, Lara’s family of four have flown to Oklahoma, USA on the recommendation of th ..read more

This month I took a look at how our fundraising support for The Brain Tumour Charity is being used in practice at Newcastle University.   Dr. Martina Finetti shows me around the University research labs.   In for a penny:  understanding the impact of our fundraising On 1st March, The Brain Tumour Charity invited myself and other supporters to kick off brain tumour awareness month with a tour of The Institute of Child Health at Newcastle University. The University’s labs are part of INSTINCT, a major research programme exploring new ways to treat some of the most lethal childhoo ..read more

This past week, the team behind HeadSmart have relaunched their campaign to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children and young people. Having already seen incredible success in helping cut the average diagnosis time for a childhood brain tumour in the UK from more than 13 weeks to today’s figure of 6.5 weeks, the relaunch sees the start of a new drive to bring that figure to below four weeks in order to save lives and reduce likelihood of long term disability. The importance of the relaunch With a campaign which has seen such success in the first place, you m ..read more

(* The pic is my pup Sky, her expressions often illustrate how I feel far better than I do!) Fatigue is non-dramatic. Fatigue is unexciting. It is, more often than not, a day-to-day occurrence, plodding along in the background of the whirlwind that is illness, diagnosis and treatment. For those suffering its effects, it can become so run-of-the-mill that it is forgotten about by those surrounding you, while still having a major impact on your life as you try to regain a sense of self. Over the past almost-year-since-my-surgery, I like many others have become rather familiar with the concept of ..read more

Today – 19th October – is NHS Fab Change Day. Described as the biggest day of collective action for improvement within the NHS, Fab Change Day is a social movement, created by the frontline of healthcare to become a real force for change and sharing best practice. I’ve spent today getting involved and learning more about fab initiatives to improve the NHS in my local area. I couldn’t let Fab Change Day pass by without making a pledge which would support the brain tumour community. I thought long and hard about this year’s main pledge, and decided mine would be: I pledge to distribute Head ..read more

Today – 19th October – is NHS Fab Change Day. Described as the biggest day of collective action for improvement within the NHS, Fab Change Day is a social movement, created by the frontline of healthcare to become a real force for change and sharing best practice. I’ve spent today getting involved and learning more about fab initiatives to improve the NHS in my local area. Part 2 of my Fab Change Day spent with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was spending the afternoon at the newly formed Northumberland Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH). Staff from across the trust had gat ..read more

Today – 19th October – is NHS Fab Change Day. Described as the biggest day of collective action for improvement within the NHS, Fab Change Day is a social movement, created by the frontline of healthcare to become a real force for change and sharing best practice. I’ve spent today getting involved and learning more about fab initiatives to improve the NHS in my local area. I first heard about Fab Change Day when I met nursing student Allan at the NHS Innovation Expo. A super enthusiastic rep for Fab Change, Allan talked me through the initiative and asked me to consider making a Fab Change Day ..read more