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Oscar's Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity

Awareness

OSCAR's childrens charity volunteer in a supermarket raising brain tumour awareness
Our mission

Dedicated to raising brain tumour awareness

Welcome to OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity’s brain tumour awareness page. We are dedicated to spreading crucial information and raising awareness about paediatric brain tumours. 

Childhood brain tumours remain a significant health concern that not enough people know about. The complexity of these tumours demands attention and continued efforts to improve earlier detection and faster diagnosis. We aim to raise awareness of signs and symptoms of the disease with parents and in the medical community. We want to spread the word as far as possible about the impact that childhood brain tumours can have.

You can help us spread brain tumour awareness by following us @oscarscharity and using #braintumourawareness

INcreasing awareness to

Improving knowledge

We raise awareness of the signs and symptoms associated with paediatric brain tumours, to help earlier and faster diagnosis. By increasing the understanding of signs and symptoms that children experience, we can equip parents with the tools to know if something is wrong.  

We provide brain tumour awareness leaflets detailing the signs and symptoms at different age which are available to share. 

72% of adults don’t know the signs of a brain tumour and the lower that number becomes the better.

View Leaflet
View Leaflet
lucas and phil in a radio station spreading awareness of York Charity OSCARs
phil recording advert for radio
INcreasing awareness to

Communities

We are available to talk to schools, business and other groups to tell them about the stories and statistics of the paediatric brain tumour community.

Many are shocked by the harshness of the disease, the difficulties of treatment and the underfunding.

The more we can do to raise of what some families are going through the more people there will be wishing to support those families.

Contact Us Today
Contact Us Today

Facts & Quotes

Our Stories

Parents Share Their Experience

oscar-cover-photo
Oscar's Story
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milo-cover-photo
Milo's Story
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akemi
Akemi's Story
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Frank
Frank's Story
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Sophia
Sophia's Story
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mila
Mila's Story
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See all Stories
See all Stories

Do you need any help or assistance?

Get in touch with us
Get in touch with us
Q&A

Frequently Asked Questions

OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity is a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting children and families affected by paediatric brain tumours. We provide emotional support, educational resources, and raise awareness about this condition to improve early detection and ensure that children receive the best possible care and support.

There are several ways to get involved with our charity. You can participate in fundraising events, volunteer your time and skills, become an advocate for paediatric brain tumour awareness, or make a donation to support our initiatives. Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference in the lives of the children we serve.

OSCAR’s Charity provides a range of services to support families facing paediatric brain tumours. We offer emotional and psychosocial support, assistance with schooling concerns, community outreach and education, and information about additional resources to help families navigate their journey with care and compassion.

Donating to OSCAR’s Charity is easy and can be done securely through our website. Simply click on the “Donate” button and follow the instructions. Your generous contributions enable us to continue our mission of providing vital support and funding research for paediatric brain tumours.

Funds raised by OSCAR’s Charity are used to support a variety of initiatives, including emotional and practical support for families, educational programs, awareness campaigns, research funding, and improving access to resources for children with brain tumours and their families.

Yes, families can nominate a child for assistance from our charity. Please reach out to us through the “Contact Us” page on our website, and we will be in touch to discuss the nomination process and how we may be able to provide support.

While we have a global outreach, OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity is based in York, North Yorkshire, and we support children and families across the UK. However, our educational resources and online support are available to anyone around the world.

Yes, donations made to OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. You will receive a tax receipt for your contribution to claim deductions where applicable.

Absolutely! We encourage families and individuals to share their stories with us. By sharing your experiences, you can inspire others and raise awareness about the challenges faced by children with brain tumours. Please reach out to us, and we would be honoured to hear your story.

To stay informed about our latest events, news, and initiatives, you can subscribe to our newsletter through our website. Additionally, follow us on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where we regularly post updates about our activities and ways to get involved.

You Can't Find What You Need? We Would Love To Help You!
Contact Us
Contact Us

Rachel James

Community Fundraising Assistant
Rachel will join our team on September 1st and will be doing a wide range of tasks including promoting the charity in the local community, developing relationships with different people and organisations, and finding new fundraising opportunities. She comes from a caring background having been a teaching assistant and emotional literacy support assistant in York for many years, and previously leading a community care team. She has also done many years of work in the voluntary sector.

Matthew Taylor

Trustee

Matthew Taylor is Director of the York Health Economics Consortium at the University of York. He has been a supporter of OSCAR’s since its inception and, through his twenty years of research into the measurement of health-related quality of life, Matthew is keenly aware of the huge benefits that new treatments can bring to people living with brain tumours.

Matthew is actively involved in national-level healthcare decision making, having had former roles as the Scientific Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)’s Economic and Methodological Unit and as a committee member for NICE’s Public Health Advisory Group. He has over fifty peer-reviewed scientific publications, including a chapter in the textbook ‘The Business, Policy and Economics of Neurosurgery’.

Ryan Mathew

Clinical Trustee

Ryan Mathew is an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds and an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.

The Hughes Family story had a big impact on Ryan. He first learnt of the charity when he became surgeon to Oscar’s dad, Ian. After a successful surgery, he continued to show great care and concern for the family when Ian became ill again and when Milo, Oscar’s brother, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Ryan is driven to make life outcomes better for brain tumour patients and their families. His extensive work in both research and surgery is testament to that commitment.

His clinical practice covers the full spectrum of general neurosurgery with a subspecialty in brain tumours. His research focuses on advanced brain tumour models, residual therapy-resistant glioma cell populations, local therapeutic treatments and surgical technologies and devices. He peer-reviews for several journals and grant award committees and has published numerous papers.

More information on Ryan’s work

Lisa Dawson

Trustee

Lisa has been a friend of the Hughes family since 2016 and was honoured to be asked in 2022 to represent OSCAR’s PBTC as Social & Digital Trustee.  Both Lisa and her family have taken part in numerous fundraising events and are dedicated to raising awareness of paediatric brain tumours.  Lisa is a social media content creator, blogger and writer and lives in York with her husband Joe and three children, Ella, Max and Leo.

Alice Beckwith

Trustee

Alice has been involved with OSCAR’s PBTC since 2020. She passionately supports the aims of the charity and believes that if the charity can change one life for the better, then it is a success. Working in the public sector for 18 years, Alice has helped transform Adult and Children’s Social Care Services by ensuring heavy investment in preventative services. This is why the impact OSCAR’s work will have on families is at the forefront of Alice’s motivation to be involved.

As partnerships trustee, Alice is keen to involve businesses, trusts and individuals in the work OSCAR’s does and show them the role they can have in providing the base for the charity to continue to expand its projects to help children with brain tumours.

Sarah Jane Gray

Trustee/Secretary

Sarah has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and surgical sales sector and is very familiar with the importance of medical advancements for better patient outcomes. She believes research is essential for improving diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for all children with brain tumours and hopes OSCAR’s PBTC can offer much needed funding to help push the boundaries in finding better ways of curing this devastating disease. Sarah’s focus as a treasurer will ensure record-keeping and accounts meet the conditions of the statutory bodies and compliance with regulatory organisations.

Holly Dixon

Trustee

Holly is mother to George, diagnosed with an ATRT brain tumour in 2022, and works as a primary school teacher. She believes that action to support others -however small- can make a massive difference.


She brings real-life experience of what it is like for a parent navigating everyday life, the NHS, the education system, questions from people and a lively young child with different needs.

meet the oscar's team

Sam Marino

Trustee
Sam was Headteacher at a school where Alfie Hutchinson died from an ependymoma brain tumour, at the age of 10. After becoming close with Alfie’s family Sam found OSCAR’s and reached out to the charity to help support the family, staff, children and local community. 
 
Sam understands the immediate and long term effects on a community when losing a child to a brain tumour. 
 
‘After seeing first hand the amazing work that OSCAR’s do, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be part of the team. I’d like to help raise awareness in educational settings, for teachers and for parents – to empower them to seek early detection/diagnosis. Phil once said to me, ‘You never expect to become part of the brain tumour community, then all of a sudden you are.’ What an inspiring and powerful community it is.”

Marie Hughes

ChAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Marie founded the charity with her husband Ian, who passed away in 2020. She is the mother of four boys. Two of Marie’s sons have died from different types of brain tumours – Oscar who was 9 and Milo who was 5 years old. She is determined to help find better treatments for brain tumours so other children won’t have to go through what her own sons and her family have.

Marie is Chair of the Board of Trustees, working closely withe the team on strategy and vision. Marie lives in Copenhagen with her two other sons, Sebastian and Lucas, and works as a Risk Manager on the Danish railway.