Newton Aycliffe cancer campaigner Anna Swabey has told her supporters that the government’s recent debate on a petition urging more funding for brain tumour research was ‘absolutely incredible, emotional and encouraging’.
Anna was at Westminster with fiancé Andy Bell and her parents, Linda and Keith, to hear MPs debate the call to increase the amount of cash allocated annually by the government specifically for brain tumour research.
Although brain tumours are the bigger cancer killer of children and people under the age of 40, only one per cent of the national budget is allocated to research in that field.
Anna told fellow members of Newton Aycliffe Rotary Club this week: “The debate went better than I ever could have imagined. So many MPs turned up and over 30 of them contributed with such empathy and passion. Not a single MP opposed our call for an increase in funding for brain tumour research.”
Twenty-four-year-old Anna, who is battling her own terminal brain tumour, has worked tirelessly to raise cash for research. She was a major force behind the campaign to gain more than 100000 signatures for an online petition to force a government debate on boosting the government’s current allocation for brain tumour research from the present £7 million to a hoped-for £35 million.
At this week’s Rotary Club meeting, Anna was presented with a cheque for £500 for the Brain Tumour Research Campaign and a certificate as winner of this year’s Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland UK Young Citizen of the Year award.
The presentation was made by Rotary District Governor Terry Long who praised Anna’s dedication, enthusiasm and inspirational achievement.
The ceremony should have taken place at this year’s Rotary Conference in Bournemouth but Anna was in Paris for the city marathon with her 12-strong team of sponsored runners – all of whom completed the course and raised more than £18,000 for the research charity.
Anna has always recognized that any major breakthrough in brain tumour treatment will be too late for her to benefit, but in her latest blog writes how she sat on the train home after the Westminster debate and thought: “I am now filled with such hope for the future . . . such hope for those yet to be diagnosed with this cruel illness.”
IN PHOTO: Left to right: Rotary North East Governor Terry Long, Anna, Denese Cartwright President of Newton Aycliffe Rotary Club and Anna’s fiancé Andrew
