When a child is diagnosed with a brain tumour, it can devastate the whole family. Tragically every year, hundreds of families in the UK suffer this torment. And sadly the survival rate for brain tumours in children is much lower than with other forms of childhood cancer.

Jack Mylam was just eight years old when he was diagnosed with DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma) — an inoperable and incurable cancer in the brainstem. Immediately after diagnosis, Jack had six weeks of radiotherapy to shrink his tumour, which relieved his symptoms for a while. But less than a year later, following weekly hospital appointments and cycles of high-dose chemotherapy, his symptoms returned and his parents were told there could be no more treatment. He passed away just a few months later.

Stories like Jack’s drive our research and we are working hard to find new treatments for children like him. We are using our knowledge of what is going on inside the tumour cells to develop tests for potential new treatments. This way we can see whether the new drugs are effective at blocking the mechanisms that either cause the cancer to develop or that allow them to become resistant to treatment.

We need to raise more than £60,000 to help fund our work. Please donate today by clicking on the donate button below and selecting Jack’s Appeal from the dropdown menu.

Thank you so much for your support.

Please donate today