EMPLOYEES of one of the Big Four accountancy firms have chosen to support a Milton Keynes-based charity through a year of fundraising.
Staff working at EY’s office in Luton voted for Brain Tumour Research as its charity of the year following a nomination by senior manager Michelle Horsman.
Michelle, who heads the office’s corporate responsibility team with colleague Amaan Baig, became aware of the charity after her mum died in October 2021 ten weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour.
A launch event was held in September to kickstart the office’s fundraising attended by speaker Simon Penwright from Stewkley, who was suffering a multifocal glioblastoma, and his wife Emily. Mr Penwright passed away on Monday (November 27), Brain Tumour Research has announced.
“What Simon and Emily had to say was very powerful, and not easy to listen to,” says Michelle pictured right. “I found it particularly difficult because I lost my mum to the same type of tumour Simon has two years ago.”
Fundraising is under way, with EY staff joining Brain Tumour Research’s Luton Walk of Hope in September and enjoying a Halloween bingo game. In the pipeline is a Winter Appeal and other fundraising plans.
“My hope for the future is that there is hope because we had none with my mum,” says Michelle. “Parents at the Luton Walk of Hope, who had lost children to the disease, had experienced that same feeling of hopelessness. I do not want anybody else to have to go through that.
“More has to be done to help and supporting Brain Tumour Research is our way of doing that.”
Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the government and larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments to find a cure.
“Michelle and Simon’s stories are, sadly, not unique,” says the charity’s community development manager Charlie Allsebrook. “We are so grateful to EY’s employees for their support. We are excited to see where the team’s fundraising work takes us over the next year.”
Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the government and larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments to find a cure.
The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia.
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