Fin's family backing 'Wear a Hat Day' drive to raise awareness and cash for Brain Tumour Research - The Bromsgrove Standard

Fin's family backing 'Wear a Hat Day' drive to raise awareness and cash for Brain Tumour Research

Bromsgrove Editorial 23rd Feb, 2020   0

THE FAMILY of brave 11-year-old Finlay Church who lost his brain tumour battle in 2015 are taking centre stage in a campaign to raise awareness and funds of the disease.

Fin’s mum and dad Penny and Wayne, his siblings Kenzie, 14, and Tegan, ten, and his grandparents Mary Shephard, James and Cynthia Church are urging people to take part in Wear a Hat Day on March 27. Now in its 11th year the drive has raised more than £1.25million in the fight against the disease.

Alvechurch Middle School Fin was a black belt in karate and a dedicated fund-raiser following his diagnosis of giloblastoma Multiforme (GMB) – the aggressive form of tumour – in 2014.

He, with the help of the community, broke the Guinness World Record for creating the longest line of teddy bears and his family broke the record for the longest line of hats on what would have been his 12th birthday.




Fin was also named a Child of Courage at the Pride of Birmingham Awards.

Penny, 43, said: “As a family, we were thrilled to take part in the Wear A Hat Day campaign.


“It’s an event we have supported since Finlay was diagnosed.

“We want to do everything possible to raise awareness and vital funds to tackle this hideous disease.”

Continuing their son’s legacy, Penny and Wayne have helped to raise more than £149,000 for the charity Brain Tumour Research, by hosting a number of fundraisers including picnics and Wear A Hat Day events.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer but just one per cent of the amount spent nationally on cancer research has been allocated to the devastating disease.

Penny added: “We can never make sense of what happened to us but we want to make a difference for others.

“We spent 17 months trying to get the cancer out of Finlay and we couldn’t bear the thought of it being buried with him.

“We donated his brain to medical research so that he could finally rest in peace and in the hope that it would be of some help to the scientists who are working so hard to understand more about brain tumours.”

The family hope the campaign will ultimately find a cure for the disease so no other families have to go through what they endured.

Visit braintumourresearch.org/fundraise/wear-a-hat-day for more on Wear a Hat Day 2020.

People are also urged to use the #WearAHatDay and #BrainTumourAwarenessMonth hashtags when posting about their fund-raiser on social media.

People can text HAT to 70450 to donate £5 to the cause.

• Texts cost £5 plus network charge. Brain Tumour Research receives 100 per cent of the donation. Full terms and conditions are on our website: www.braintumourresearch.org/text-donate-terms-conditions

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