Brain tumour patient completes walk in boy's memory

A woman living with a brain tumour has completed a 17km walk (10 miles) in memory of a teenager who died of the same condition.

Annalisa McKenna was taking part in a fundraising walk in memory of George Fox last year when she became ill and was diagnosed with a terminal stage 4 glioblastoma.

She is a teaching assistant at Arnold Academy in Barton-le-Clay, Bedfordshire, where George went to school, and she joined its third annual fundraising walk for Brain Tumour Research on Sunday.

This was the first time the 58-year-old had returned to the school since her diagnosis and she said there was "lots of encouragement — I'm so glad I did it".

George Fox died in April 2022, just 11 months after he was diagnosed with a fast-growing aggressive glioblastoma.

His school has held fundraisers in his memory ever since, this year walking 17km because that would have been his age.

McKenna was taking part in last year's Team Arnold Brain Tumour Research fundraiser in Wales when she experienced a severe seizure.

She told BBC Three Counties Radio's Justin Dealey: "Initially, when I was taken to the hospital in Wales, they said it was a glioma and I was so relieved because I thought, 'I just don't want it to be glioblastoma because I know how serious they are'."

However, she was transferred to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where an MRI scan confirmed it was a glioblastoma.

"I was really devastated - it was a complete bolt out of the blue," she said.

McKenna has had surgery, received radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment and is now waiting to start a clinical trial for glioblastoma patients.

George's mother Louise said: "She's incredible, honestly, we are just in absolute awe of her all the time."

She was also grateful to the school for continuing to raise funds in her son's memory.

"This tumour that's meant to be so rare... every person that you talk to knows of somebody or has a friend or a family member that is going through this journey and we just need to keep on campaigning and feel things change," she said.

Fox added she will be attending the House of Commons on Monday as part of a Brain Cancer Justice, which is calling for the UK Government to increase brain cancer funding.

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