A MAN is with an incurable brain tumour is calling for more government funding for research into the disease.
Adam Chapman is 43 years old and from Worcester, before he was diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM) he ran his own business and was competing in 10k assault course races.
Six months after his wedding day in December 2022, Adam started suffering from headaches and was rushed to hospital in the following February.
He said he put the headaches down to work related stress, tiredness and the tail end of the Christmas flu.
“My thoughts were blurred and things didn’t seem to make sense; I was slowly starting to lose control of my brain and body.”
Adam has undergone two operations, the latest of which took place in August 2024, and months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
He had a stroke in his first 12 hour surgery and his memory, cognition and sight have been impacted.
He added: “People appear to think that because I’ve had surgery and chemotherapy and I’m at home now, I must be ok.
“They don’t understand that my tumour will continually come back for the rest of my now limited life, and that all we are doing with treatments is delaying the cancer to give me as long as possible.
“Without the priceless support of friends and family, who have been living this nightmare with me, things would have been even tougher.”
Adam backed Brain Tumour Research as it calls for the government to follow through on its unfulfilled promise made in 2018 to invest £40million into research.
He spoke of his frustration the government have not invested the money they said they will and only one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the disease.
Hugh Adams, spokesperson for Brain Tumour Research, said: “When £40million was made available by the government for allocation to brain tumour researchers we didn’t consider for a moment that a full deployment of that amount wouldn’t happen.
“Six years later and only 25 per cent of that funding is actually in the hands of the scientists who hold the key to unlocking the uniquely complex puzzle that brain tumours pose.
“Our 2024 ‘It’s Time to do Things Differently’ manifesto is very clear that we want the government to work with Brain Tumour Research to develop a roadmap for full deployment of this money.
“Brain tumour patients do not have the luxury of time and any barriers to research funding must be identified and removed.
“If we do not do this then the shocking statistics surrounding this devastating disease will remain and, for all of us at Brain Tumour Research, that is just not acceptable.”
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