Email: Natalya@btbuddies.org.uk

Tel: 01825 761872

 

1^st March 2009 - The development of a comprehensive new online resource for people affected by high grade brain tumours has been brought about after the untimely death of the co-founders daughter.

‘Rose was a popular young woman with a bright future ahead of her when her symptoms started. She received excellent care and treatment from The Walton Centre, Liverpool and Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology on the Wirral but, sadly, it was all to no avail,’ said her father Andrew McGill.

Rose McGill passed away aged 22 in 2006 from the highest grade of brain tumour. In Rose’s memory, her father Andrew McGill along with the founder of Brain Tumour Buddies, Natalya Jagger, decided to develop Rose Buddies to raise funds and help with the emotional and information needs of families in a similar situation.

‘The original intention was to provide some awareness and fund-raising for brain tumours but I felt that a lot more was needed in terms of understanding what brain tumours are, how and where they are treated as well as many of the practical aspects of care and support that is available in the UK,’ explains Natalya Jagger.

She continues: ‘Rose Buddies was set up in 2007 and we have raised over £10,000 to date. Now, this second phase, Brain Tumour Buddies – timed for 1^st March to coincide with the beginning of national Brain Tumour Awareness Month – is launched as the UK’s only website dedicated to providing information and support to high grade brain tumour patients, their families, friends and caregivers.

‘Information on the new website may give hope to others who find themselves trying to deal with the diagnosis of a high grade brain tumour and they can now find answers to their questions all in one place,’ adds Natalya.

Doctor Helen Bulbeck, Director of Brainstrust, a UK brain tumour charity that helps people from the point of diagnosis, has seen the new web site and says, "Brain Tumour Buddies is quite the most informative website I have seen for patients who are afflicted with a high grade brain tumour. It's a beacon in the darkness."