Government promises national brain cancer lead after swimmer Archie Goodburn's tearful Downing Street plea
Archie Goodburn, who has been told he has 10 to 12 years to live, is to meet Prime Minister Andy Burnham after a tearful on-air plea for greater brain tumour research funding.
Archie Goodburn, 25, met Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper at Downing Street on Wednesday, and the Government responded by announcing a package of measures including a national brain cancer clinical lead — the swimmer's key demand. The review of brain cancer progress since 2018 will be led by Professor Anthony Chalmers, chairman of clinical oncology at the University of Glasgow. Burnham also asked the medicines regulator to complete its review of orphan drug rules in two years rather than three, to get new treatments to patients faster.
Goodburn, diagnosed with three inoperable brain tumours at 22, was sent home from A&E and told it was likely a migraine before paying privately for an MRI scan that revealed the truth.
Experts called the announced measures a 'generational shift in how brain tumours are seen and addressed in the UK.'
'I'm on my knees begging — not just for my own life but for those of my best friends and families all around the country,' Goodburn said in tears on BBC Breakfast.
