Determined Essex mother Gemma Edgar, who is battling an incurable brain tumour, has helped to launch a national fundraising campaign to find a cure for the disease.
Former paediatric nurse Gemma Edgar, 32, from Colchester, is working with charity Brain Tumour Research to support this year’s Wear A Hat Day, on March 29.
Along with her husband, Rob, and parents Andy and Barbara Relf, also from Colchester, Mrs Edgar attended the official launch of this year’s effort at the charity’s headquarters in Milton Keynes on Saturday and met businesswoman, model and brain tumour survivor, Caprice Bourret.
Ms Bourret said she was “touched” by Mrs Edgar’s story and the “incredible” work she was doing to raise funds and awareness.
Mrs Edgar was 29 when she was diagnosed with grade four glioblastoma multiforme (GBM4) in 2014, just eight weeks after giving birth to her second son, Noah, who has devastatingly gone through his own battle with eye cancer.
Having undergone surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, Mrs Edgar, who is also mother to five-year-old Dylan, said she was feeling positive for the future.
She added: “I could just hide myself away under the duvet, but I don’t want my boys to have bad memories of mummy crying all the time.”
Wear A Hat Day was launched by Brain Tumour Research nine years ago and is the culmination of Brain Tumour Awareness Month in March. The event will see schools, workplaces, families and individuals across the UK taking part in fun events to raise funds and awareness for the cause.
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet the charity claims just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this brutal disease.
Money made through Wear A Hat Day 2018 will develop the charity’s network of brain tumour research centres in the UK.
Mrs Edgar said: “We are dedicated to continuing to raise awareness of brain tumours and are really proud of what we have achieved so far. We have had such wonderful support from people in and around Colchester and I hope they will once again join us by getting involved in Wear A Hat Day.”
To get involved, or donate, visit www.wearahatday.org or text HAT to 70660 to donate £5.
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