A young widow from Bexley, whose husband was tragically diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour just six months into marriage, is campaigning for more government funding to fight the devastating disease.
Doctors dismissed solicitor Nick Cotton’s symptoms, and sent him home with painkillers and antidepressants, when he first experienced painful headaches at the end of 2012.
The former BETHS Grammar School pupil was diagnosed a month later and passed away in Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice, which he had supported when running the London Marathon just three years before, at the age of 30.
Mr Cotton, an Arsenal fan, told loved ones he wanted to donate his organs but this was not possible because the cancer had spread to his brain stem.
Instead his wife Rachael Cotton, now 32, established the Nick Cotton Foundation – which has raised a staggering £47,000 to date.
Rachael Cotton (right) with her brother Luke Sinclair (left)
Mrs Cotton said: “The four good months we had whilst Nick was on the chemotherapy drug Avastin has given me some precious memories.
“But I lost my husband far too young, when we were just starting out on what should have been a long and happy marriage.”
Last Wednesday (March 9) Mrs Cotton and her brother Luke Sinclair, 34, attended a special reception at the Speaker’s House in Westminster, hosted by Brain Tumour Research patron John Bercow MP.
It was to acknowledge a petition for extra funding which has been signed by over 120,000 people and has prompted a House of Commons debate.
Mrs Cotton added: “We were shocked to find that there was so few options available for patients with brain tumours.
“Nick’s brain tumour journey highlighted the desperate need for more effective treatments and ultimately a cure to bring hope for the thousands of people diagnosed with a brain tumour every year.
“Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.
“This is unacceptable. At the current rate of spend it will take 100 years to find a cure.”
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Chief Executive of Brain Tumour Research Sue Farrington Smith lost her niece Alison Phelan to the disease at the age of seven.
She said: “It it is appalling that, to date, so little has been allocated to research - causing untold distress to patients and their loved ones.”
The number of deaths from brain tumours continue to rise.
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