Families working together to find a cure for cancer

In February David Taylor’s In Sue’s Name charity which was set up after the death of his daughter Sue Blasotta from a brain tumour started a crusade.

On Tuesday November 7th nine families joined Sue’s mum and dad David and Kathleen at Queen Mary University of London to celebrate another step towards completing their mission.

An additional £75,000 - which equates to 11 days of research – was put forward.

The families placed 11 tiles on the Wall of Hope in the Brain Tumour Research’s Centre of Excellence to commemorate the occasion.

David Taylor, said: “I am so grateful to all who support In Sue’s Name and today I am especially grateful to the families who are placing tiles on the Wall of Hope signifying precious days of research we are sponsoring.

“However, it is heart-breaking that so many of us have lost loved ones to a disease for which there is still no cure.

“While Sue was being treated at the Royal Free Hospital, there were two other brain tumour patients in the hospital from the same North London parish of St Monica’s, Palmers Green as Sue, both of whom also later died, Anthony Bourke, aged 34, and Jackie McGovern, 42, the same age as Sue when she died.

“I can still remember my complete shock and disbelief when I discovered that brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1 percent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

“This is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, Mary Zazzi, a friend of the Taylor family who grew up with Sue, raised £14,500 from an Italian night at the Pembridge Suite, in Arnos Grove.

Mary is on the In Sue’s Name charity's committee.

Her mother and brother died from brain tumours.

She was at the campaign launch in February in memory of her mother, Lina Ferraro, and lay a tile for her brother, Frank, this time around.

Mary, said: “Sue was such a comfort to me when mum died seven months after being diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma multiforme tumour.

“Sue and I ran the Race for Life together a few times.

“I couldn’t believe it when I found out that Su had a brain tumour.

“I remember David ringing me to tell me she was on her last legs and rushing to the Royal Free Hospital.”

“I was with Sue until the last 20 minutes of her life.

“Frank was initially diagnosed with melanoma, but it very quickly spread to his brain.

“I recognised his symptoms because they were the same as mum’s and I knew he had a brain tumour before he even had a scan.

“He hoped to survive a few years until his daughter turned 18, but one month later he was dead too.

“Brain tumours are such a cruel disease.

“Less than 20 percent of brain tumour patients survive five years compared with an average of 50 percent across all cancers.

“I am proud to be working with In Sue’s Name, supporting the research being undertaken at Queen Mary University of London and fervently hope that Lina, Frank and Sue’s legacies are that a cure is soon found.”

Brain Tumour Research is campaigning so that the annual amount of money spent on finding a cure increases from £30 million to £35 million.

Such a rise would match the money spend on breast cancer and leukaemia research.

According to Brain Tumour Research brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer.

For more information visit www.insuesname.org and www.braintumourresearch.org.

To make a donation visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/donate/in-sues-name.