Family tragedy leads to boost for charity

TUMOUR: Friends and family of tragic young father raise £80,000 for brain tumour charity

A Fife brain tumour tragedy has inspired a family and friends to a remarkable fundraising feat.

Mark Richardson was 32 when he died suddenly of an undiagnosed brain tumour last May.

Now a fundraising campaign in his memory has raised £80,000.

Mark’s wife, friends and Diageo colleagues have held a charity dinner and auction raising funds for The Brain Tumour Charity.

Mark, who worked for Diageo, passed away very suddenly last year after his wife Shona found him collapsed at their Dunfermline home.

Shona said: “Mark had been complaining of feeling off colour and the kids and I had been out running errands and left him at home in bed.

“I had called him a few times to check on him but wasn’t able to get a response.

“When we got home I knew something was seriously wrong and he wasn’t breathing.”

Following a post-mortem examina- tion it was revealed that Mark had a tumour the size of a golf ball.

Doctors think it was slow growing and could have been there for months.

“Mark passing away was such a shock, he had no symptoms at all, the kids and I are still coming to terms with it,” she said.

“I was so touched when Mark’s colleagues from Diageo wanted to fundraise in his memory and that so many thought so highly of my husband.”

“The night meant an awful lot, there was a real sense of achievement that Mark didn’t die in vain and the incredible amount raised will go to help others.

“I feel very strongly that there should be more awareness around brain tumours and more funding for research so that other families don’t have to go through what we have had to.”

The total raised in Mark’s memory now stands at £80,000 following a series of fundraising events, including a Ben Nevis climb undertaken by 30 people.

Geraldine Pipping, The Brain Tumour Charity’s director of fundraising, said: “We receive no government funding and rely 100% on voluntary donations, so it’s only through the efforts of our supporters that we can work towards our twin goals of doubling survival and halving the harm caused by brain tumours.

“Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and people under 40 in the UK and survival rates have not improved significantly over the last 40 years.

“We need to change that.”

I was so touched when Mark’s colleagues from Diageo wanted to fundraise in his memory and that so many thought so highly of my husband. SHONA RICHARDSON

Mark Richardson, wife Shona and sons Luke and Ewan.