More than £8,000 has been raised by the former chair of North Yorkshire Council for a “life-saving” charity that is close to her heart.
Cllr Roberta Swiers, the elected member for the Cayton division and last year’s chair of North Yorkshire Council, raised £8,080 by organising a number of fundraising activities during her year in office in aid of Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity.
Cllr Swiers’ son, Craig, was aged 24 when he was diagnosed with a rare malignant brain tumour. He had experienced headaches for more than 10 years, which were always dismissed as normal, but coincidentally the tumour was discovered after an industrial accident at his workplace.
What started as a routine morning at work took a devastating turn when a hydraulic roller fell at one side trapping his right hand and arm. He sustained serious injuries and was rushed to hospital where he underwent 14 operations to save and reconstruct the damage to his arm.
He continued to experience headaches. After several visits to the hospital and an ambulance sent to his home, all dismissing them as just headaches, his local doctor was called out following another episode who discovered what she thought was a major problem. A CT scan confirmed the presence of a brain tumour which doctors believe had been slowing growing for the past 12 to 15 years.
Cllr Swiers said:
It was a very worrying time for our family and we were in disbelief. It’s news no-one wants to hear and the biggest shock was that he could have had the tumour growing inside his brain since he was a teenager. Looking back, he used to complain about mild headaches and tiredness. The symptoms increased rapidly after his accident at work, but we just put it down to the aftereffects of the number of operations he had.
It was a lot to deal with at the time. He was self-conscious of the scars left after the arm surgery and then had to deal with this new diagnosis and the treatment ahead.
The tumour could not be removed and Mr Swiers had to have extensive radiotherapy treatment, however, the recovery was slow and the side effects of the radiotherapy are still causing problems 25 years later.
Cllr Swiers hopes sharing her son’s experiences will help others affected by a brain tumour diagnosis to reach out and seek support:
While the medical staff were brilliant in Craig’s care, there was no-one to check up on the family post-operatively and offer support and provide reassurance or guidance.
Craig is now 52, happily married with two children, however, he has several health issues and continues to be under the care of the doctors. He has been left hard of hearing and has to inject daily to boost his growth hormone.
He is also now a volunteer of the charity, hoping to create a group and support sufferers and their families in the Scarborough area.
During my year of office and before I stepped down in May, the Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity was my chosen charity so that I could raise awareness of the support it can provide to families during devastating times of a diagnosis and treatment.
A number of fundraising activities were held last year including a raffle at my charity dinner, bake sales before every council meeting, an Easter egg raffle and so on.
I am delighted with the amount raised and I would like to thank all officers and elected members at the council for supporting this life-saving cause.
Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity offers vital support to patients and their families at every stage. It invests in pioneering clinical research across Yorkshire striving for kinder treatments and better outcomes for everyone affected by a brain tumour.
The charity’s chief executive, David Grant-Roberts, said:
We’re incredibly grateful to North Yorkshire Council for choosing to support Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity and raising such an amazing amount.
Their generosity and community spirit will make a huge difference to families across the region affected by a brain tumour diagnosis.
Meanwhile, Cllr Swiers is encouraging people to be generous and support this charity so that it can continue its mission to fund research, raise awareness and provide support services across the region.”
You can donate to Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity by logging onto https://www.yorksbtc.org.uk/
