Please see Update at bottom of page from The Ollie Young Foundation with details of where they are spending the money raised this year
So a little about the Charity… we are supporting The Ollie Young Foundation.
They are a fantastic small charity who do fantastic work raising money for brain tumour research with unpaid volunteers.
We have both raised money separately over the last year for various (worthwhile) charities, but this time wanted to support a small proven charity without the overheads of paid fundraisers and CEO’s. The Ollie Young Foundation was launched in memory of a brave little boy who lost his fight against an incurable brain tumour one day before his sixth birthday and only twelve weeks after first displaying symptoms. There was no available treatment for Ollie, no cure and no hope. We are funding the ride costs ourselves so you can be sure that any money you donate will go directly to eradicating paediatric brain tumours.
You can find more information about this great charity at www.ollieyoungfoundation.org
UPDATE Below is a “Shopping List” of future spending plans from The Ollie Young Foundation. Its provided as a guide to show our supporters where their money is being spent
In terms of the shopping list, we recently committed to 2 years funding support to the Institute of Cancer Research Glioma Team.
The Glioma Team at the Institute of Cancer Research is entirely focussed on the study of diffuse glioma in children. These tumours can occur in any location within the brain, and are made up of many different subgroups of disease with a distinct underlying biology. Wherever they occur, they have an extremely poor clinical outcome.
In recent years, the lab has built up an international reputation in this field and have a continuing goal of turning the biological discoveries they have made into improved clinical outcomes for children with these terrible brain tumours. We are supporting analysis in the characterisation of childhood glioma, and the testing of new drugs in laboratory models.
The annual costs of the Molecular analysis are £25,000 – so your goal could fund approx 2.5 months of this
The annual costs of the Drug Screening are £12,500 – so your goal could fund approx 5 months of this
Other associated costs of the work are as follows and may be of help:
Cell culture – the team have pieces of tumours that they gently break down into single cells, and grow them in dishes under a controlled environment.
Neurobasal medium (nutrients for cells) – £250.00 per month
Laminin (for cells to attach in 2D) – £750.00 per month
CellTiter Glo (to measure if cells are alive or dead) £1,000 per month
Growth factors (to keep cells happy in culture) £1,500 per month
Low-attachment plates (for cells to float in 3D) £2,000 per month