A Peterborough woman whose 34-year-old husband died of a brain tumour earlier this year has welcomed the news that the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) has received a £500,000 funding boost.

Mauricee Bravo-Hibberd, who has raised thousands of pounds to help fund research, was among a select group of supporters invited to the charity’s Centre of Excellence at ICR.

It’s where research is focused on finding a cure for paediatric high-grade gliomas. The half-a-million-pound investment, which will help test new treatment options, has been announced during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Mauricee said: “This is wonderful news which will bring much-needed hope to families affected by a brain tumour diagnosis.

“Funding into research to bring about better outcomes for brain tumour patients has been woefully neglected for years.

“We’ve seen radical improvements in survival rates from leukaemia and breast cancer due to substantial investment into research, but not for brain tumours, where treatment options have barely changed in decades.”

Peterborough father-of-three Sam was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) – a high-grade glioma-type brain tumour, in September 2023, just two months after the birth of his third child.

He was given a devastating prognosis of just eight to 12 weeks. Despite surgery and radiotherapy, Sam deteriorated and passed away just five months later in February.

Mauricee said: “I thought Sam might have early onset dementia because I knew there was a history of it in his family.

“Sadly, the truth was much worse than I’d ever expected. I wasn’t prepared to be told my husband, my best friend and the father of my children had just eight to 12 weeks to live and was being referred for palliative care.”

Since Sam died, a five-a-side football match was held in June by friends and family in memory of the Manchester United fan at Powerleague Peterborough, alongside a raffle, which raised enough to sponsor a day of research at the ICR Centre of Excellence.

Mauricee has also donated a substantial sum which is funding 100 days of next generation sequencing at Brain Tumour Research’s Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London.

The ICR Centre is working on identifying new treatments, focusing on children and young adults, and will act as a crucial bridge connecting worldwide research and analysing findings which will help inform and enable the setting up of much-needed clinical trials.

On their visit, Mauricee and her friend Kathryn Grace met Professor Chris Jones who leads the research team at ICR, toured the labs and spoke to scientists about their work to find a cure for the disease.

READ MORE: Powerleague Peterborough Brain Tumour Research charity match

She then placed a tile on the Wall of Hope, dedicated to Sam.

Mauricee added: “I hope the money we’ve raised, with the help of our super-supportive community in Peterborough, is life changing.

“It won’t bring Sam back, but I hope it makes a difference for families in the future.

“It’s really comforting to hear directly from the scientists about their work to find a cure, which can’t come soon enough.”

Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We’re really grateful to Mauricee and her family and friends for their fundraising in Sam’s memory and hope that the visit to our Centre of Excellence at ICR offered a useful insight into all we’re doing to improve treatment options for patients and, ultimately, find a cure.

“Brain tumours kill more men under the age of 70 than prostate cancer, yet research into the disease remains so woefully underfunded. This has to change.”

To donate to Brain Tumour Research, go to www.braintumourresearch.org/donate-now

To find out more about sponsoring a day of research, go to www.braintumourresearch.org/fundraise/sponsor-a-day.