Wrexham students get ‘hatty’ for day of fundraising

Students from a school in North Wales will be taking part in various hat-themed activities to raise money for Brain Tumour Research in memory of a school teacher and to support another staff member currently living with the disease.

Pupils at St Joseph’s Catholic and Anglican High School in Wrexham will be encouraged to wear Christmas-inspired headwear on Friday 17 December as part of the charity’s Wear A Christmas Hat Day.

The ‘hat-tastic’ fundraising is in memory of food technology teacher, Lorraine McKeown, 56, who died in May 2019, shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. It will also be in support of another member of staff at the school, who has recently received a brain tumour diagnosis.

The day will be coordinated by additional learning needs teacher, Abby Ledsham, 26,

whose own family has been devastated by brain tumours. Abby, from Pentre Broughton in Wrexham, said: “My dad passed away from a brain tumour in 2017, nine weeks after he was diagnosed. He began feeling poorly the year before but in March 2017 he had a seizure and was taken to the Walton Centre in Liverpool, where a scan found he had two tumours on his brain.”

Abby’s father, Gary Ledsham, was just 55 when he died from a grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) at home in Pentre Broughton.

Abby said: “He had a biopsy that didn’t quite go right and left him paralysed down one side of his body. The scan a week later showed the tumours had tripled in size, from a ping pong ball to the size of an orange. There was nothing they could do for him.”

Just a month after losing her father, Abby’s family was given the devastating news that her grandmother’s breast cancer, which spread to her lungs, had spread further, causing two tumours on her brain and she died aged 75.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 yet, historically, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

Abby said: “I remember being taught by Lorraine when I was a student at the school and then, just after she died, I became a teacher at the same school and her loss was such a shock. She was also a pupil at the school and went on to become a teacher and lots of staff members had been fortunate to work with her. Lorraine was a hugely loved member of the school community.

“Each year students are tasked with selecting a charity to fundraise for, and organise their own events and we’ve raised thousands for charities, we all want to make a positive impact on the world.”

The day will see a variety of hat-related activities including a ‘mad hatters’ bake sale, a hat character quiz and a lunchtime ‘hat-walk’ where students will showcase hand-crafted creations and their fellow pupils will vote for their favourite.

Mel Tiley, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “It’s incredibly sad to learn about Abby’s family members and colleague who died from brain tumours. To hear that another member of staff from the school is currently undergoing treatment for the same disease, is devastating. It’s lovely to see the whole school community coming together to help fundraise and raise awareness of the deadly disease. I’d encourage everyone to join in the festivities and sign up and take part in Wear A Christmas Hat Day.”

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, 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 and is also campaigning for greater repurposing of drugs.

The Brain Tumour Research carried out the research for this article