Research to lead to brain tumor therapies

Dr. Kim Hunter-Schaedle, chief scientific officer of the Children’s Tumor Foundation said: “Dr. Hanemann’s work is very exciting. There is currently no effective treatment for neurofibromatosis. As a physician and researcher he should be able to take positive results quickly from the bench to the patient, getting promising neurofibromatosis drug therapies as quickly as possible into clinical trials. “ The Children’s Tumour Foundation has provided seed funding to Professor Hanemann and to an international consortium of research establishments of which the Peninsula Medical School is one. It will fund over $3 million for neurofibromatosis research programmes in 2008. More information is available by logging on at www.ctf.org.

More information is available by logging on at www.pms.ac.uk.

CASE STUDY

Tom Wakenshaw, 21, from Gunnislake in Cornwall, first became aware that there was a problem when he started to suffer from very bad headaches at age 15.

He was a pupil at Tavistock College at the time and in the middle of his GCSEs. He was referred for an MRI which identified a tumour on his brain, and was immediately rushed to Bristol for surgery to remove it.

Said Tom: “I had the operation, and then they told me afterwards that I had neurofibromatosis. When you’re young you just take these things on board, which is what I did at the time. But it has had a huge effect on my life since.”

Tom lives with his mother Val, and is currently being helped by the local Job Centre to try to find a job that can accommodate the effects of the neurofibromatosis. The condition causes him to get very tired and affects his balance. The operations he has had over the past years to remove more tumours have resulted in numb fingertips and feet.

He said: “I had a job as a window cleaner once, but a had an accident where a nail slipped between my toes. The worrying thing was that, even though it did not go into me, I couldn’t feel it passing by my toes.”

Tom is currently working with his local Job Centre which his finding him placements – his next is a six week spell working in the kitchen at the Bedford Hotel in Tavistock.

Tom is the youngest of four children, and some of his family live close by. Said Tom: “My Mum, Dad and brother live locally and see what it’s like on a day-to-day basis. It’s good to have them close by.”

Tom attends the clinics run by Professor Oliver Hanemann at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. “They’re really useful, and a good opportunity to talk about how I’m doing,” said Tom. “Professor Hanemann gives us good ideas and suggestions to help cope with the condition, and just talking about it is a great help.”