Double your impact this Christmas. The first £16,000 raised from Louise's BBC Radio 4 appeal will be doubled. Please, will you unlock this match funding with a kind gift?
Will you consider supporting Brain Research UK this Christmas?
My name is Louise and in a few days, I'll be featuring on BBC Radio 4 to raise money for this vital cause. I am an A&E nurse, a mother of two and I have an incurable brain tumour.
I was invited by Brain Research UK to the BBC Radio 4 recording studio to share my story and highlight why neurological research is so crucial. Like you, I support Brain Research UK and I am sharing my story with all who can hear it to highlight why ongoing support is so important. If you'd like to hear my story on BBC Radio 4, broadcasting on November 1st, click through this link.
In August 2019, at the age of just 33, I suffered a seizure that led to the discovery of a brain tumour. I was diagnosed with a diffuse astrocytoma, a type of low-grade glioma. There is currently no cure.
My world was turned upside down. As an A&E nurse, I understood only too well that life can change in an instant, but I never imagined that it would happen to me.
Although surgeons were able to remove most of the tumour, I knew there was a high chance it would return and develop into a more aggressive tumour.
For several years it remained stable, until October 2023, when I received the news I had been dreading.
My tumour had returned and was growing at a significant rate. I underwent surgery in December 2023 to remove as much of the tumour as possible.
Just a week later, three days before Christmas, I was given the devastating news that it had become a more aggressive, high-grade anaplastic astrocytoma.
Brain tumours kill more people under the age of 40 than any other cancer. Yet decades of under-investment in research have severely hampered progress. Survival has not improved in line with many other cancers.
A gift from you this Christmas will help to fund vital research in neurology. Moving forward our understanding of how tumours develop and how to more effectively diagnose and treat them.
To help me cope with the emotional impact of my diagnosis, my neuropsychologist suggested that I try running.
In October 2021, I completed the London Marathon, raising money for Brain Research UK. I loved the experience so much that I went on to run the London Marathon in 2022 and again in 2026.
I will always have brain cancer but all I can hope for is that another person with have a better chance of a cure in the future.
The money raised by me, and by supporters like you, is already helping to fund vital research.
One example is research by Professor Petra Hamerlik at University of Manchester that uses tear fluid to detect substances found in low-grade gliomas.
Understanding the biology of a cancer tumour can help doctors choose the best treatment. For some types of cancer, this information can be gathered through a blood test that detects material the tumour releases into the bloodstream.
With funding from Brain Research UK, Petra and her team are developing a special tool that can use tear fluid to help doctors diagnose tumours like mine earlier and more accurately – leading to faster diagnoses and more personalised and effective treatments.
Recently, my family has faced another devastating blow. Shortly after I finished my treatment in 2025, Dad was diagnosed with the same type of brain tumour. He died just eight weeks later.
Please join me in supporting this wonderful charity by making a donation today.
Your ongoing support would mean so much to me and would help fund more urgently needed neurological research, giving hope to others like me and my dad.
Thank you for helping to make a difference.
Louise Looney
On behalf of Brain Research UK
P.S. We need your help to unlock this BBC Radio 4 match funding. Turn £1 into £2 by donating this Christmas. Thank you.
