John Bercow

There can surely be no more tragic or heartbreaking experience for a parent than to discover that his or her child has a brain tumour. 

Some 16,000 people a year are diagnosed with brain tumours.  Of those, 350 are children, and 100 children die each year as a result of a brain tumour. 

Moreover, the prognosis for children so diagnosed is poor, with only 20 per cent surviving beyond five years.

Research now shows that brain tumours have overtaken leukaemia as the biggest killer of children under the age of 15. 

Without wishing to induce statistical fatigue, it needs to be understood that the phenomenon is neither simple to detect, nor uniform in type.  Rather, there are over 120 different types of brain tumours which present themselves in a variety of ways.

The apparent low incidence of this type of cancer, by comparison with other forms, has caused the brain tumour community to be poorly supported and funded. 

There is a score of charities which, through a plethora of fund raising methods, finance research to help child sufferers. 

Most of them are small, dependent upon volunteers and in limited contact with each other. 

At the other end of the spectrum, Cancer Research UK is the largest supporter of the UK Children's Cancer Study Group, an organisation which treats all children with cancer, ensuring they receive the most up-to-date treatment. 

In any case, charitable effort can only ever be a supplement to, not a substitute for public financial support.  That support is needed, needed on a substantial scale and needed now.

UK brain tumour charities are striving for increased funding to improve education, information, specialisation, support and research.  GPs and other health professionals need information to be widely available and to receive training to identify the differing symptoms of the various tumours.

Often, GPs either do not recognise the symptoms, or choose to eliminate other causes first.

There is a multiplicity of symptoms and part of the problem is that those symptoms are the same as those for other illnesses and diseases. 
As there is no central repository of information on this cancer, a reliable and up to date source is necessary, leaving patients, carers and families having to hunt for knowledge. 

There needs to be greater specialisation as there are only 17 locations with the facilities to treat brain tumour patients in the UK. 

Eight of the children’s cancer hospitals do not have the facilities to treat brain tumour patients.  Hospitals should provide support facilities for families including overnight facilities, rest rooms and showers.  Families who are bereaved should have freely available professional counselling. 

Additional money is needed for hidden costs, such as parental leave, new clothes for children on steroids whose clothes no longer fit and treating patients and siblings to special holidays to ease the pain. 

An integrated research programme and dedicated brain tumour research centres are required, focusing on the types of tumours, genetics and molecular genetics, brain tumour invasion and the effectiveness of treatment.
 
It is glaringly obvious that this country still has high hurdles to overcome if the scourge of brain tumours is to be successfully fought.

I say high, but with effort, skill and focus, they should not be insurmountable.

Medical science continues to advance, to create new cures and, inevitably, to produce new lists of expectant patients in the process.

Yet the research which leads to treatment which can provide relief and which offers the ultimate prospect of a cure demands political will and financial support. 

Members of all parties and of none, parents, patients and professionals look to the government to give a lead and make the fight against brain tumours a key priority.

John Bercow is Conservative MP for Buckingham.