The family of a teenager who died of a brain tumour has welcomed a £500,000 funding boost for cancer research centre.
The family of 17-year-old Ethan Treharne, from Sandhurst, placed nine tiles on the Wall of Hope at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in his memory.
This tribute coincided with the announcement of a half-million-pound funding boost for the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the ICR, for testing new treatment options.
The centre focuses on finding a cure for paediatric high-grade gliomas, the deadliest of all childhood cancers, and the type which took Ethan’s life.
Ethan's mother, Nikki Treharne, shared the family's relief at the news, stating: "When Ethan was diagnosed, there were so few treatment options available in the UK, so we looked abroad for alternatives to try and keep our son alive, and this meant raising tens of thousands of pounds.
"Hearing that the team at ICR is benefitting from this significant sum to help them in their vital work to bring about better outcomes for children and hopefully kinder treatments is such great news, even though it’s too late for Ethan."
Ethan was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) in November 2021 after initially suffering from severe headaches and slurred speech.
Over two years, he underwent three operations, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy and developed epilepsy because of treatment.
Ms Treharne said: "We had hoped to find a cure within Ethan’s lifetime. Now it’s important to us as parents to keep his memory and name alive.
"We want to rewrite the future of brain tumour patients and stop families going through the pain of losing a loved one."
The family has since set up a fundraising group called A New Hope for Ethan, raising more than £60,000 for Brain Tumour Research.
The ICR centre works on identifying new treatments for children and young adults and will act as a crucial bridge connecting worldwide research and analysing findings to help inform the setting up of clinical trials.
During their visit, Ms Treharne, Ethan’s aunt Kari Hunter, his cousin Jacob Hill, and family friend Claire Henry met Professor Chris Jones, who leads the research team at ICR, toured the labs, and spoke to scientists about their work to find a cure for the disease.
Louise Aubrey, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, expressed gratitude to Ethan’s family for their fundraising efforts.
She said: "We are delighted that the team at ICR has been granted this significant amount of money to further their work in identifying new treatments for brain tumours in children and young adults.
"We’re really grateful to Ethan’s family for their fundraising in his memory and hope that the visit to our Centre of Excellence at ICR offered a useful insight into all we’re doing to improve treatment options for patients and, ultimately, find a cure."
Brain Tumour Research is campaigning for more investment into research of treatments and cures for brain tumours. The charity is advocating for a national annual spend of £35 million, while fundraising to create a sustainable network of seven brain tumour research centres of excellence across the UK.
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