Essex nurse welcomes £1.2m funding for glioblastoma research

Nikki Saunders had been campaigning after her mum and brother died from an aggressive cancer

A nurse who lost her mother and brother to an aggressive brain cancer within weeks of each other has welcomed a £1.2m investment in research.

Nikki Saunders' mother Susan and brother Paul Simons were both diagnosed with glioblastoma in September 2018 and died that year.

Ms Saunders, from Essex, is campaigning to raise awareness of the cancer for the Brain Tumour Charity.

The charity said the money would help "accelerate a cure for brain tumours".

It has awarded grants worth £1.2m, with the first going to Dr Tyler Miller, a research fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Glioblastomas affect more than 3,000 people a year in the UK and are a deadly and aggressive form of brain cancer.

Mr Simons died seven weeks after his diagnosis in November 2018 and his mother died 11 weeks later

Ms Saunders' brother fell ill while visiting their mother in hospital, prompting his sister to demand he too have a scan.

He was taken to A&E with a suspected stroke and later diagnosed with glioblastoma.

Mr Simons, a former UPS courier, had suffered no symptoms until a few days earlier when he experienced numbness in his right hand followed by stiffness in his right leg and a bad headache.

"Having to tell my mum that Paul also had the same type of brain tumour is something I will never forget," Ms Saunders said.

Mr Simons died seven weeks after his diagnosis in November 2018 while his mother died 11 weeks later, aged 77.

Ms Saunders said: "Words cannot describe what we went through or how missed and loved my brother and mum are."

Nikki Saunders climbed Mount Snowdon in August to raise awareness for the Brain Tumour Charity

Dr Millar's work will improve understanding of how glioblastoma cells avoid the immune system and continue to grow.

The new project also aims to make glioblastoma cells sensitive to immunotherapy to greatly enhance the chance of survival.

A second grant is going to Dr Spencer Watson, a post-doctoral researcher at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

He aims to find out whether 'glial scars' - the term used for the damage left after glioblastoma treatment - create a protective environment for tumour cells left behind after treatment.

Emma Thompson, head of research at the Brain Tumour Charity said: "Our aspiration is that this research will help us accelerate a cure for brain tumours.

"We know that glioblastomas are incredibly difficult to treat due to their complex make-up.

"Therefore, funding this innovative research which aims to understand how the immune system responds to tumour cells and that tackles cells that promote tumour recurrence is important if we want to find new treatments that will enable us to find better ways to treat this disease."