Help me help others to bash brain tumours (From Gazette)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting GAZETTE NEWS to 80360, or email
Help me help others to bash brain tumours
9:00am Wednesday 4th July 2012 in News By James Calnan
Fun fundraiser – David with his game
A MAN recovering from a rare tumour has invented a game in his bid to help other sufferers.
A haemangioblastoma, a tumour which is normally found in the brain, was discovered in David Canning’s spinal chord.
David, 45, of Maldon Road, Colchester, underwent a seven- hour operation at Queen’s Hospital, in Romford, last December.
The keen climber has been gradually recovering his fitness and now wants to raise money for charity Brain Tumour UK.
David launched a Splat-the-Rat style game, called Bash the Brain Tumour, at the Colchester Food & Drink festival.
He put up information boards about his ordeal as well as information about brain tumours, and raised about £200.
He said: “I spoke to a mixture of people who had experience of brain tumours, some people who connected with the story and some people just wanted to play the game.
“We’re beginning to pick up some momentum.”
Money raised will go towards the £3,000 Mr Canning needs to gather for a fundraising climb of Europe’s three highest mountains – Mont Blanc in France, Grand Paradiso in Italy and Breithorn in Switzerland.
Inspired by meeting a group who supported Brain Tumour UK by rowing across the Atlantic, he hopes to take on the challenge in 2013 or 2014, before going on a fundraising drive using videos, photos and blogs of his experiences.
Mr Canning, who works for the Government’s Cabinet Office, has suffered a lot of pain on his road to recovery.
He wants to raise money to allow Brain Tumour UK to publicise the experiences of other sufferers and how they battled back to health, which he believes will help others.
He said: “You can get a lot of clinical information and some information from people like MacMillan, but what I really want to do is talk to people who are in the same position.
“I found some of that on a website based in the United States – the Spinal Chord Tumour Association – and just reading people’s experience reassured me that in the right hands I would get through this.”
To support Mr Canning, visit www.justgiving.com/ davidcanningalpine3peaks
