An Aberdeen mum-of-two who was told she had 12 months to live seven years ago has been praised for raising more than £80,000 for cancer research.
Suzanne Davies was diagnosed in 2014 with glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, after doctors found a tumour the size of a golf ball on her brain.
Mrs Davies, 41, has an MRI scan every five months, and despite living with stage four cancer, was told in February 2020 that the tumour was stable.
Defying all the odds, she is now in the five per cent of patients who live beyond five years of diagnosis, and remains on a mission to raise awareness of the cancer type.
As the face of Worldwide Cancer Research’s Winter Appeal, her story led to more than £84,194 in individual donations.
The Edinburgh-based charity used the end of Brain Tumour Awareness Month this week to thank the north-east mum for her fundraising efforts, which will help fund more than 3,500 hours of research.
Mrs Davies works as a reflexology practitioner at her home in Aberdeen after giving up full time work in finance.
She has two children, Lauren, 11, and Max, 14.
Seven years after being told by her consultant that she would be lucky to see out a year, she said: “It was a really hard time and came from nowhere.
“I suddenly found myself having vacant moments, where I couldn’t hear, speak or even breathe.
“When the doctors told me I had a tumour the size of a golf ball in my brain and that I’d only have a year to live, I had my two children – aged four and seven at the time – and husband to think about.
“Now seven years on, I’m so thankful for research and for the treatments, surgery advances and drugs that were and are available to me.
“I didn’t think I’d get to see my 40th birthday, let alone see my sister get married and have children of her own.
“2020 turned our lives upside down and I think we’ve all breathed a sigh of relief that the year is over, but thanks to the generosity of Worldwide Cancer Research’s supporters, I’m feeling really positive about the year ahead.
“I am thrilled to hear that the Winter Appeal campaign has raised more than £80,000 towards life-changing cancer research.
“Any research that can help us get closer to cures, clinical trials and everything in-between is incredible.
“And the fact it’s a charity close to home starting the research across the world makes it even more incredible.
“I want to be a grandma and to be able to live my life like I should be able to.
“And thanks to charities like Worldwide Cancer Research, I might be able to.”
Dr Helen Rippon, chief executive of Worldwide Cancer Research, said: “We’d like to say a massive thank you to Suzanne for fronting this campaign, and helping us raise over £80,000 towards cancer research, helping us continue to make our ground-breaking research possible.”
Brain tumours kill over 5,000 people each year in the UK and more than 400 in Scotland alone.
Since it was established in 1979, Worldwide Cancer Research has funded over £200million of research in more than 30 countries to start new cancer cures.
The charity is currently funding two brain tumour research projects, worth over £410,000, one looking at how to beat treatment resistance in childhood brain cancers, and the second hoping to better understand how a gene in our DNA allows brain cancer cells to survive and grow.
