The tenor and musical theatre star Alfie Boe has launched a rose in memory of his late father, who died from a brain tumour in 1997 when Alfie was 23 years old.
The tenor and musical theatre star Alfie Boe has launched a rose in memory of his late father, who died from a brain tumour in 1997 when Alfie was 23 years old. The Alfred Boe Rose was launched at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show on 6 July, and the proceeds will raise funds for the charity Brain Tumour Research.
The Evening Standard reports that Mr Boe also expressed his frustration at the lack of progress in understanding and treating brain tumours, even 25 years after the death of his father.
Brain tumours are the biggest killer of people under the age of 40 compared to any other type of cancer, but just one per cent of all cancer research funding has been spent on brain tumours since records began in 2002.
Writing on Instagram, Mr Boe said: “A fun yet emotional morning down at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2024 launching the Alfred Robert Boe Rose with the fantastic @harknessroses1879 in memory of my late father. We are proud to donate £2.50 from the sale of each ‘Alfred Robert Boe’ rose to @braintumourrsch charity which I am a Patron for.”
In a further press statement he added: “My dad loved his roses, so it’s really special for me to do this in his memory while helping to raise money for Brain Tumour Research, a charity I am very proud to be a patron of and which is working to find a cure for this devastating disease.”
“It makes me angry that, in all this time, the situation for patients like Dad hasn’t really changed. I feel incredibly sad to think that families are still facing this awful diagnosis and, nearly 30 years later, there have been so few advances in treatment.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that research into brain tumours should be a priority and I am ashamed to think that charities are having to do so much in this area. The Government should be doing so much more.”
Dan Knowles, the chief executive of Brain Tumour Research, said he hopes the flower will raise funds and awareness to progress their “research into brain tumours and improve outcomes for patients like Alfred who are forced to fight this awful disease”.
Mr Boe, from Blackpool, has long been committed to raising awareness of brain tumours, and his latest Encore tour has raised over £16,000 for further research. He has spoken openly to his audiences about his distressing experience of losing his father to a brain tumour and participated in fundraising Shine A Light and Wear A Hat Day events.
At his show in Cardiff in June, Alfie met fan and volunteer Debra, who lost her only child Jenna to a brain tumour in January. Jenna was 15 years old and had been diagnosed with a diffuse hemispheric glioma 15 months previously.
Debra said: “Hearing Alfie speak during his show about his father was so moving and it’s clear he is so passionate about raising awareness for Brain Tumour Research. His fans were lovely, they were queuing up to donate and several of them shared their own experiences of how brain tumours had affected them.”
“Meeting Alfie was the icing on the cake. He stopped to chat and he ended up asking to have a photo taken with us, rather than the other way around!”
Despite continual research, scientists do not fully understand what causes brain tumours, and this limits the type of treatments that are available. There are over 120 different types of brain tumour, and around 16,000 people will be diagnosed with one each year in the UK.
Brain tumours are divided into four classifications: grades one, two, three and four. Grades one and two are slow-growing non cancerous tumours, and grades three and four are cancerous tumours that can spread quickly and can result in a short prognosis.
Low grade tumours may be actively monitored rather than treated, but high grade tumours require urgent attention. The most common types of treatment for brain tumours include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Sometimes a combination of two or more treatments will be used, depending on the size, location and type of tumour.
Smaller tumours may be treated with stereotactic radiotherapy, sometimes also called Gamma Knife surgery. This involves delivering very high doses of gamma rays to a precisely targeted area, to destroy the tumour cells and leave the surrounding healthy tissue untouched.
For more information about Gamma Knife surgery, please contact Mr Neil Kitchen of Amethyst Radiotherapy.
Centres of Excellence for Stereotactic Radiosurgery treatment of complex Brain Tumours
Want to know more about Gamma Knife Treatment?
Our friendly staff are here to help you, get in touch with them today
