Hello everyone. This is Colin Speirs from Headcase Cancer Trust blogging in support of Tony and Dan.

So Tony and Dan’s Ironman Triathlon (aka… madness!) is only a few weeks away. Trust me, I’d rather eat my own socks than run or swim anywhere, although cycling is a different matter altogether. I’m hoping that you can take the time to read this post and help Tony and Dan towards their fundraising target.

What these guys are doing is something really significant because it’s not just about being an Ironman, it’s about trying to raise £30,000 as their way of supporting Tony’s friend, Colin, who is currently suffering with a Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) brain tumour.

Just to put things into perspective, £30,000 will pay for a whole year’s research at the University of Portsmouth to help find a cure for GBM which is the most common, most aggressive and most deadly form of brain tumour. Average life expectancy for GBM is just 14 months and it has the highest Life Years Lost rate of any cancer at 20.1 years!

OK, so GBM is incurable but just how aggressive is it? Well if you can imagine something the size of a large grape in your head which is when you’ll start to notice something wrong. Unchecked, just one month later it will have doubled in size to something like a plum. Another month on and it will be the size of a small orange and at this point you’ll need surgery followed by Chemo and Radiotherapy. That’s right it will grow to the size of an orange in just 3 months!

Things will be fine for a few months but then it will come back and grow unchecked just like previously, before it finally gets you.

Oh yes, forgot to mention……. during this time you’ll lose your memory, possibly the use of your limbs, your speech will slur, your personality will change drastically, you may need help going to the toilet, dressing, washing, getting up and down stairs.

GBM is a bastard however you look at it.

Don’t let all of that get you down though because it’s guy’s like Tony and Dan who are making a difference and raising much needed funds for research (Brain tumours receive just 1.4% of total cancer funding!). Everyone here at Headcase also wants to make a difference and I hope that you can find some amount to donate to Tony and Dan for their efforts and to make sure that they smash through the £30,000 barrier that they have set themselves.

If you can donate then think of it this way…… by doing so you have helped to find the cure for an incurable disease and that isn’t a bad thing to be able to say.

Thanks for reading.

Col