An Aston Clinton father who lost his 13-year-old son to a brain tumour has welcomed the news that scientists have found a new way to starve cancerous brain tumour cells of energy.
Peter Gardiner lost his son, Ollie, in November 2017 after doctors discovered that he had a medulloblastoma brain tumour in May 2015.
However, the findings by Professor Silvia Marino and her team at the Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London, funded by Milton Keynes charity Brain Tumour Research, could see a breakthrough in the way that children with medulloblastoma brain tumours are treated in future.
Ollie Gardiner's last chemotherapy session in 2017
Peter said: “I can only describe our experience as a long hell.
“Firstly, Ollie was diagnosed, then he went through surgery and extensive treatment.
“When we were told there were no further options for him in the UK, we crowdfunded £500,000 so he could have immunotherapy in Germany.
"It was our only hope and, sadly, it didn’t work.
“We were overwhelmed by the support of friends, family and strangers who stood by us in our hour of need and came together to help us do the very best we could for our son.
“It means the world to think that, because of him and the love people showed to us, others might not have to go through what we did.”
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Theo Jane and Peter Gardiner at Wall of Hope at Queen Mary University of London
Medulloblastoma is the most common high-grade brain tumour in children, with around 70 youngsters being diagnosed in the UK each year.
The survival rate is at 70 per cent for those whose tumour has not spread but it is almost always fatal in cases of recurrent tumour.
And after Ollie’s passing, his family generously donated £187,000 of the residue of their fundraising to Brain Tumour Research which is funding post-doctoral researcher Sara Badodi who works alongside Prof Marino.
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Dr Silvia Marino
Prof Marino from Queen Mary University of London said: “We have identified a novel way that grade four medulloblastoma is able to adapt its metabolism and grow uncontrollably.
“Significantly, we have also shown how this energy supply can be blocked.
“These exciting results bring hope of developing new targeted treatments for patients with this aggressive paediatric brain tumour.”
Dr Silvia Marino
“Medulloblastoma occurs in four distinct subgroups (WNT, SHH, G3 and G4). Despite our growing knowledge of the molecular differences between these subgroups, current options are surgery together with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy for all patients.
“We desperately need to understand the key molecular events driving tumour growth in each subgroup to design new, less toxic, targeted treatments.”
Hugh Adams, Head of Stakeholder Relations at Brain Tumour Research said: “It is great news and brings some much-needed hope for the future.
“There is still some way to go but we hope that a clinical trial could be up and running in as little as two years.”
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