Fundraising for GBM
678. Andy Johnson
679. Colin Speirs
Andy Johnson and Colin Speirs are the founders of a charity dedicated to finding a cure for a common type of brain tumour.
Andy and Colin founded the Headcase Cancer Trust, after Becky, Colin’s wife and Andy’s daughter, passed away from a brain tumour in 2010. After Becky’s death, Andy and Colin discovered that the GBM-type brain tumour that killed her is the most common and deadly form of the disease, killing 5000 people every year.
Andy and Colin set about finding a cure, establishing Headcase which takes an irreverent approach to a very serious subject matter, staging fundraising rock gigs, extreme sponsored challenges and communicating the facts about GBM brain tumours in off-beat short films. They have raised over £600,000 to directly fund a team of researchers at Portsmouth University, who are investigating a possible cure for this deadly disease.
In a personal letter to Colin, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“The ‘Headcase Cancer Trust’ is a wonderful tribute to your wife Becky’s life. Your fundraising and awareness raising is making an important contribution to efforts to find a cure for Glioblastoma Multiforme brain tumours. You and Andy should be tremendously proud of everything you have achieved.”
Colin said:
“I’m delighted that Headcase has been recognised for its efforts to find a cure for an incurable disease that affects so many people. Really though, we simply provide a framework for people to do brilliant things, so the award is for everyone from the ‘wizards’ that do our cutting edge research, to each and every person that has volunteered, raised money or made a donation to support our quest to find a cure for GBM. The Future Gets Written Today!”