Rebecca Harris MP, was one of a group of people celebrating Brain Tumour Awareness Month at the Speaker’s House on Wednesday 15th March 2017. The event was held by Brain Tumour Research to mark the month of awareness and the charity’s Wear a Hat Day which takes place on Friday 31st March. The event provided a platform for guests to talk to MPs about how they can help boost research into this deadly disease. Famous names also at the event, hosted by John Bercow MP, included Debbie McGee who lost her husband Paul Daniels to a brain tumour.

Rebecca Harris has been a campaigner within Parliament, calling for greater awareness amongst the public of brain tumours and increased funding into research for a cure. There is currently a huge unmet need for brain tumour patients, with treatments not able to improve survival or quality of life in ways other cancer treatments can.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease. On top of this, incidence has risen by 19% between 2002 and 2014 even without including the thousands of secondary brain tumours diagnosed every year. Less than 20% of brain tumour patients survive beyond five years of their diagnosis – compared with 86% for breast cancer and 51% for leukaemia.

Rebecca Harris met, patients, carers, scientists and clinicians and heard about the challenges facing both those living with a brain tumour and those trying to secure much needed funding for research into cures.

Rebecca Harris said “It is essential that the UK leads the way in investing in research into brain tumours. There is currently not enough investment into treatments and the basic understanding of this awful disease and the UK should embrace funding and new ways of fighting this disease. I hope that Brain Tumour Awareness month is a success in raising the public’s knowledge and funding for this devastating disease and I would like to thank Brain Tumour Research for all they have done in organising events across the country.”