Mum pleads for urgent action to save brain cancer patients after daughter’s death at just 23

BRITAIN must boost brain tumour drug trials to improve survival, a charity warns.

Mum Nicola Nuttall, whose 23-year-old daughter, Laura, died of glioblastoma in May, says the deadly cancers are being “neglected”.

She is spearheading a campaign by the charity Our Brain Bank to get more research funding.

Around 12,300 Brits per year are diagnosed with brain tumours and this is set to rise to 14,000 by 2035.

Survival is poor, with glioblastoma patients only living an average of 14 months after being diagnosed.

Nicola said: “This brutal disease is being neglected in relation to research and treatment options. 

“It is being under-represented and feels, in many ways, that it has been abandoned.

“If the government takes on board the recommendations in the white paper we’re presenting, the face of glioblastoma in the UK will change and lives will be saved.

“It’s as simple as that.”

Nicola’s daughter, Laura, lived for five years after being diagnosed with multiple brain tumours in 2018.

She went through gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy but passed away in May this year.

The Our Brain Bank campaign has called for ministers and NHS bosses to improve funding for key glioblastoma research and treatment efforts.

It said more patients should have DNA testing of their tumours and there should be more frozen storage available for tissue samples.

Campaigners also want more UK trials of brain tumour treatments and priority funding for those that test out real-world therapies.

They also called for more information to be posted online specifically about glioblastoma, to help patients cope with diagnosis.

Trustee Richard Clemmow, whose wife died of the disease, added: “Whilst huge advances have been made in treatment of more common cancers, the situation for people diagnosed with glioblastoma hasn’t changed in 20 years.”