Daughter holds three-day fundraiser in memory of dad who died from brain cancer

When Nick Wainwright, 71, a grandfather from Hayling Island in Hampshire, first started acting differently in January 2021, doctors put it down to depression after the death of his son in March 2020.

Three days later, Nick’s symptoms worsened and he lost the ability to walk and his concerned wife, Janet, 70, a part-time receptionist at a GP surgery, took him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Cosham and a CT scan showed a growth on Nick’s brain.

Days later, a full body scan revealed the devastating news that the cancer was more advanced and further lesions were found on his brain, as well as his liver and lungs.

Nick’s daughter, Ali Houghton, 46, a finance assistant at AF Blakemore and Son in Wolverhampton said: "When Dad called us to tell us the terrible news, I knew it wasn’t good.

"Before he went into hospital it was as if he was dying before our eyes."

A biopsy of the main tumour on his brain nicknamed ‘Donald Lump’ revealed Nick had cerebral metastases which often originates from outside the central nervous system near the brain and spinal cord.

Ali added: "So many times we were told they could cure it and then they couldn’t, then we were told they could treat the cancer and then we were told they couldn’t, we felt very frustrated."

Nick had five consecutive days of intensive radiotherapy, but in May, an MRI scan revealed further growths on his liver, lungs and brain.

He returned home to be with his family and died on October 31, 202, just ten months after he was diagnosed.

Ali said: "You don’t know what people are going through until it’s happening to the people closest to you, dad fought so hard."

Determined to use her grief to support other families, Ali and her colleagues at AF Blakemore and Son took part in a three-day-long fundraiser as part of Brain Tumour Research’s Wear A Hat Day on March 25.

Ali said: "When I found out that brain cancer received so little government funding I felt compelled to do something.

"If our fundraising and awareness raising can help at least one family then that’ll help knowing Dad didn’t die in vain."

More than 15 employees from AF Blakemore’s finance department helped to organise a host of fundraising activities including a bake sale, tuck shop, raffle, tombola and a sponsored leg wax.

The group's efforts have raised around £1050, with more money to come in and to be matched by Blakemore.

Now in its 13th year, Wear A Hat Day has raised more than £2 million for Brain Tumour Research to help fund the fight against the disease.

Mel Tiley, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: "We’re sorry to hear about Nick.

"We’re thankful to Ali and the family for sharing Nick’s story and for taking part in Wear A Hat Day to help us find a cure for this dreadful disease.

"Nick’s diagnosis reminds us that brain tumours are indiscriminate and can strike anyone at any time."

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK.

It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure.

The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia and is also campaigning for greater repurposing of drugs.