The effects of brain tumours to patients and their families are truly devastating and the facts are just as shocking in comparison to other cancers.

The following is a summary from the Brain Tumour Research Report - 'A report on inequality of funding and profile of brain tumours - July 2009.  The full report can be downloaded here.

Did you know that....

• 16,000 people each year in the UK are diagnosed with a brain tumour
• 20% of all cancers now spread to the brain
• Primary tumours cannot be prevented because their cause is unknown
• More men under the age of 45 and women under the age of 35 die from a brain tumour than any other cancer
• While the five-year survival rate for many cancers is over 50% and rising to over 90% for some cancers, for brain tumours, the five year survival rate for men is 14.1% and women is now 13.8%
• Brain tumours are the most common solid tumour found in children and they have overtaken leukaemia as the biggest cancer killer of children in the UK
• The number of children dying from a brain tumour in 2007 was 33% higher   than in 2001; child deaths from leukaemia were 39% lower than in 2001
• Brain tumour research receives less than 1% (0.7%) of cancer research spending in the UK
• The amount the government has spent on cancer research related to brain tumours in 2007-8 is half the 'official' figure of £970,000 from the Medical Research Council