YBTC - the Yorkshire Brain Tumour Charity

Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity is the region’s leading brain tumour charity.

The charity offers emotional, practical and financial support to patients, carers and loved ones across Yorkshire, at any stage of the journey and for as long as it is needed. Their support, open to adults and children with any grade of brain tumour, ranges from meetup groups and drop in cafes, counselling and wellbeing walks to emergency financial grants and an out-of-hours phone line.

One attendee of YBTC’s support group said: “It took me a long time to realise I needed some help. I just regret not joining sooner now as I feel that I wasted a lot of time that could have been spent speaking to people who make me feel normal again.”

The charity was originally founded as Andrea’s Gift, named after Andrea Key, who was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour in October 2001. In May 2002, Andrea sadly died, leaving behind a charity with a mission of ensuring no one goes through this devastating diagnosis alone.

Over 1000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour across Yorkshire every year and brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of the under 40s in the UK. Lack of research funding means survival rates have barely improved in the last 40 years. YBTC is here to change these statistics by funding vital research across hospitals in Leeds, Sheffield and Hull to find better treatments, and ultimately a cure.

The Leeds Neuro Research Tissue Bank, jointly funded by YBTC, was established in 2021 to enable researchers to access viable tissue, with the aim of improving treatments and outcomes. Dr Lucy Stead, Head of Glioma Genomics at the University of Leeds, said “To understand human disease, we need to learn from patient tissue. This tissue bank will facilitate a large range of brain cancer research in Leeds and beyond, and help us advance towards finding a cure.”

YBTC receives no statutory funding and is entirely reliant on donations to keep providing support for patients and families and funding research.

If you’d like to find out more about the charity, go to yorksbtc.org.uk